


Blood Witch

by orphan_account



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Angst, Angst and Feels, Author Is Sleep Deprived, Awkward Romance, Bisexual Bucky Barnes, Bucky Barnes Needs a Hug, Curses, F/M, Fluff, Hurt Loki (Marvel), I'm Bad At Tagging, Loki (Marvel) Needs a Hug, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Romance, Slow Burn, Swearing, Tags May Change, Violence, Witch Curses, rebuilding relationships
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-02
Updated: 2020-04-07
Packaged: 2021-02-27 18:22:35
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 47,881
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22980124
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: After being flung around like a ragdoll by the Hulk, Loki had laid on the floor of Stark tower coughing up what Tony had assumed was blood, until he saw the God of Mischief roll onto his stomach and black liquid that almost seemed alive came pouring out, wiggling across the floor like a slug.Loki had been infected, under the control of someone else, with what though, has continued to be the biggest question as Loki serves as one of the Avengers, behind the scenes. Doing his best to make reparations for the damage he caused while not in his right mind and trying to let his mind heal.None of the Avengers on Midgard nor Odin and his on Asgard could figure out what it was that Loki had spit up after being tossed around.That is, until an old lover of Loki’s resurfaces on Midgard two and half years after the attack on New York.
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Original Male Character(s), Loki/Original Female Character
Comments: 4
Kudos: 35





	1. Prologue

The city streets were awash with people and cleanup efforts, everyone seemed to have a job, a way of helping out. Looking around, she realized she hardly recognized the street she had spent the last 10 years walking down. 

_ Was this really still Downtown New York? _

The coffee shop on the corner of the street was all but rubble, the roof almost completely torn off and a broken down alien ship sitting in the doorway, surrounded by glass, concrete, and wood. 

_ What was it that the news had been calling them? Chitra? Chitauri? _

She couldn’t remember right now, her mind was too focused on finding  _ him. _

It should have been devastating, she should have been helping out, or crying, or maybe even screaming, but the only thing she could do was run. Her feet, clad in her favorite maroon boots, pounded on the sidewalk, her breathing becoming harsh and ragged. 

She’d been running all over the city. Her friends were doing their best to keep up with her, but she had always been the faster one, spending more time running with wolves as a child than sparring and training her fighting abilities. 

Her hair whipped around her face and shoulders, the waist length braid that she had put it in the morning before last finally coming loose and flying free, as she turned a corner, making her way from the destroyed buildings of downtown to Central Park. 

If she had paid any attention to herself she might’ve been disgusted at how wild she looked. 

Her hair, normally a soft white, was now a dingy grey from the dust, soot, and debris from the attack the day before and the cleanup efforts starting today, but she found she didn’t have time to care. She had finally  _ found _ him. 

She could see him standing on a bridge with his brother, six other people surrounding them. They were about to disappear, she could feel in her gut, twisting it and filling her chest with grief all over again. 

She was  _ so _ close. 

Maybe she was yelling as she ran, she wasn’t sure, she could hardly hear herself think. Despite this part of the city being so quiet, the pounding of her blood in ears muted everything. So desperate to catch them before they left on a road she could not follow, she didn’t hear the shouting around her. 

If she ran fast enough, she could make it. She could get to the princes before they took off. She could see her home again. She could see her lover again, but fate is often cruel. 

The light was blinding and sudden, blue and ethereal, and was gone just as quickly as it had appeared. Taking with it Thor and Loki and the first feeling of hope she had had in nearly a century. 

And there was the grief again, in full force hitting her like she had just ran into a brick wall, stopping her in tracks and bolling her over. 

She wasn’t sure when she ended up on her knees, or when her vision started to blur because of the tears, she wasn’t sure about anything really, other than the knowledge of her last chance had just evaporated in front of her, and then a man suddenly kneeling in front of her. He looked familiar with his short sandy blonde hair and blue eyes, but in the moment, she couldn’t comprehend why. 

“Ma’am?” He asked, placing a gentle hand on her shoulder. “Ma’am, are you alright?” His voice was quiet and gentle, his eyes conveying concern and confusion. 

She shook her head, shaking free another few strands from the disarrayed fish-braid to frame her face, now tear-stained and splotchy and stared at the man with horror and loss. 

“What’s wrong?” 

“Yuliya!” The shouting of her name forced her to turn her head and she almost smiled as she saw her three friends running over to her. It didn’t take them long to reach her. One of them, a young man with auburn hair, partially tied back, immediately knelt beside her, gently shifting her to lean on him. 

She didn’t fight him, sinking into her friend as he checked her over. “I‘m not hurt.” She said quietly, letting out a slow breath. 

“Is she alright?” The blonde man asked, rising to look at the woman who had run up with the two men. The woman nodded, her short black hair bobbing along with her head as she put a hand to her chest, breathing deeply until she could regain her speaking voice. 

“Yeah. Yeah, she’s fine. It’s, uh, it’s been -” She paused, running a hand through her hair and looking down at her collapsed friend. 

“Yeah. It has.” Steve agreed quietly. “Steve Rogers, ma’am.” He held out his hand, the expressions on his face a mixture of concern and friendliness. 

The woman standing didn’t take his hand, just stared at it before giving him a curt nod. 

“Thanks.” 


	2. Strange meetings and new friends

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was a beast to get down, there's so much exposition and so much I'm trying to set up I might've gotten lost along the way. I hope you like it!   
> This is my first real fanfiction, so any constructive criticism is very much welcome!

It didn’t occur to Steve how often he found himself thinking back to the day Thor took Loki back to Asgard until Bucky asked him about the woman he was drawing.   
“Who is she? Your girlfriend?”  
Chuckling, Steve shook his head, laying his sketchbook down on the coffee table. “No, I only met her once.”   
“She’s pretty.” Bucky commented, sitting down next to Steve on the couch and picking up his sketchbook, flipping through the pages. 

There weren’t many people still alive who could look through Steve’s sketchbook without some kind of repercussions, but Bucky was one of them. He had always encouraged Steve's artistic side, even got him a new sketchbook since he’d come back from Wakanda.   
The Captain could let his best friend look through the sketches he had been doing recently. 

“So, love at first sight, huh, punk?” Bucky snickered.   
Steve quirked an eyebrow at the Sergeant and Bucky responded by flipping through some of the pages that held a drawing of the woman. A few more than Steve realized.   
“Did you break her heart already?” Bucky joked, stopping on one picture of the woman looking at the sky.   
The woman sat slumped on the ground, face upturned to the sky, crying. His clothes were dirty and torn in places. Her hair was a mess, sticking out in spots where it had come loose from the braid, and shaded in with pencil to look grey.   
She seemed defeated as she looked to the sky, like the last bit of hope she had held on to was finally torn from her by god. 

“No, Buck, I only met her once. I don’t even know her name.” Steve chuckled, rubbing the back of his neck. 

“Who did she lose?” Bucky asked quietly after a moment, still looking at the same picture. It was beautiful, he thought, and sad. 

“I don’t know, but I think she was trying to get to Thor before he left with Loki.” Steve shrugged, taking back his sketchbook when Bucky made to hand it back to him.   
Silence encompassed the friends as they sat, each enthralled in their own thoughts. Steve flipping through his sketchbook, taking a moment to look at the drawings he had done of the woman over the past two years.   
Bucky was staring at the T.V. screen. The news was on and he always tried to catch up on what was happening in the world outside, although it always felt like he was too behind to learn anything new. The world kept spinning during the time he was the Winter Soldier and sometimes it was hard for him to keep up. 

“It’s not like you to leave someone behind if you can do something about it.” Bucky muttered after a few minutes. Steve didn’t look up immediately, he felt guilty about it, but her friends had come to get her. She didn’t seem to be in any danger, he thought, just broken.   
He sighed, shaking his head. “She had some friends that came and got her.” Steve finally started. “I don’t know, Buck.” He shrugged, closing his sketchbook and joining his friend in staring absently at the TV. “What else was I supposed to do?” 

“You haven’t looked for her?” Bucky asked, raising an eyebrow at his friend.   
“I’ve tried, but I don’t have anything to go on.”   
“Stark?”   
“Without a name Stark can’t find her, even with a drawing. He said she’s not in the system.” Steve shrugged, sinking back into the couch. 

Bucky hummed in acknowledgment. “You been back to where you first met here?”   
“A few times.”   
“You should try again.”   
Steve nodded. “You should come with.”   
Bucky smirked, rising from the sofa. “No shit, punk.” 

\----

Winter had finally come to New York, a light blanket of snow had fallen during the night, covering the roof and back porch in a bright white as the sun rose. Yuliya smiled as she made her way through the quiet house and out onto the back porch.   
Everyone was gone from the house today, the last three of her family left having gone the afternoon before to follow a somewhat promising lead. She relished the time she had to be alone, as it didn’t happen often anymore.   
Dagny, Veleif, and Brandr always worried about her too much, especially after the Chitauri attack, and especially Dagny.   
Yuliya understood why. It had taken her months to get back to a functioning person again when they had landed on Midgard, and weeks to recover after the Chitauri attack.   
‘And,’ Yuliya mused to herself, ‘that was simply a healer's way.’

Coffee cup in hand, Yuliya made her way onto the back porch, her bare feet crunching lightly on the snow that had fallen. She gave a happy hum as she sipped her coffee, staring at the frozen little backyard. She had always loved winter, loved the cold.   
She thrived in the ice and the snow and fared much better in storms of cruel wind and ice hail than the rest. Winters on Midgard weren’t nearly as harsh as the ones she had grown up with, but they were still a welcome sight and feeling to the still grieving witch. 

A sorrowful smile spread across her lips as her thoughts turned to times in her childhood with her mother, the two of the dancing in the snow while her father bundled himself in furs in their home, keeping himself close to the fire as often as he could. Yuliya wouldn’t say her father hated winter, but he wasn’t the best suited for it either. Most of those on her father's side were not, hardy though they were.   
It made her mother laugh when storms would come through and they would find her father bundled with his council by the fire blazing twice the size as normal. Yuliya could still hear her mother scolding her father for making the fire so big when they had plenty of furrs to wrap themselves in. The council would laugh through clattering teeth as Yuliya and her mother fetched the extra furrs to wrap around them.

“Why you people insist on staying here and ricks freezing to death is beyond me.” Her mother would remark, and then blush when her father replied.   
“I have the love of an Ice Giantess, I would not leave her for all the warmth in Asgard.” 

Finishing her coffee, Yuliya made her way back inside, stopping in the kitchen to put her mug in the sink, and heading to her bedroom to get ready for the day. She didn’t have anything pressing to do, but she definitely didn’t plan on staying inside when there was snow outside. 

Dressing in a pair of dark denim jeans tucked into maroon boots, a lavender t-shirt, and a black pea-coat she found at a thrift store, Yuliya headed out the door. She may not have needed the pea-coat, but she found it was easier to wear one and blend in, than not. 

Stepping onto her front porch, Yuliya took a moment to watch as her breath fogged the air, smiling like a kid in a candy store. Shoving her hands in the pockets of her coat, she hopped down the three steps of her front porch and let her feet bounce their way along the sidewalk. 

\---

Yuliya breathed deeply as she stepped outside again. It wasn’t that she disliked being around people, but she disliked how warm it would get when many of them would congregate in one building. It made her feel like she was suffocating.   
It had been 6 years since she and hers ended up in New York and she still hadn’t gotten used to how many people would cram themselves in one room when winter hit.   
It was maddening, sometimes. She thought, stepping to the side quickly as a couple of young women rushed to find shelter from the wind in the coffee shop she had just exited.   
She breathed a sigh of satisfaction when she took the first sip of the overly sweet chocolate coffee concoction. The mocha had become one of her favorite drinks since discovering coffee. 

The streets weren’t crowded, but there were still plenty of people walking around, that she weaved her way through. She had one destination in mind, and while she knew nothing would have changed in the past two and a half years, she still liked to go back to Central Park, just to see.   
Because maybe he would come back and just maybe he would come back to the spot he left on. 

Central Park was nearly empty as Yuliya walked around it, slowly making her way to the bridge she had last seen her love on. Sipping on her mocha and humming an old song her mother used to sing to her.   
There were only two other people on the bridge, neither of whom the man she was looking for. Her shoulders dropped just slightly, she couldn’t help it. Knowing it was nearly impossible didn’t mean she still didn’t hope from time to time. 

Sighing, Yuliya made her way to the railing opposite the two men, setting her coffee down on the ledge and looking up to the sky, she asked the air a simple question; “Can you still not see me?”   
She was given no reply, but the wind gently kissed her face and lifted some of her hair from the collar of her coat. 

\---

It was colder than either of them were expecting when they got out of the car. Steve grunting and buttoning up his coat when a blast of wind hit them as they were walking across the street.   
“I need a hot drink to endure this.” Bucky grumbled, shoving his hands in the pockets of jeans.   
“Yeah.” Steve nodded, looking around the shops. If he remembered correctly, there was a coffee shop close by. “Lets stop in there.” He motioned to the cafe a few doors down from where they were standing. 

The line was long when they entered, almost to the door, but it was warm inside and the two super soldiers were happy to wait a while before going back outside.   
Stepping back outside, hot drinks in hand, Steve and Bucky both groaned as their faces were assaulted by more cold wind. Neither of them said it outloud, but they both thought coming out today might not have been their best idea.   
If the woman really did return to the bridge at any point, why would she come when the weather wasn’t nice and warm?   
But still, they said they were going to try today, so that’s what they were going to do, and slowly made their way to Central Park. 

It was empty when they reached the bridge and Bucky let out a huff of disappointment. “Great.”   
Steve chuckled, shaking his head. “What did you expect, Buck?”   
Bucky shot him a glare and mumbled into his coffee. “A damn miracle, apparently.” 

The wind wasn’t as harsh up on the bridge and looking around Steve wondered how a place so peaceful and quiet could be in the middle of New York city. The snow that had fallen the night before had stuck to most of the trees and grass, making the portion of the park they were in look like a Norman Rockwell painting. 

“C’mon,” Bucky grunted, making to head back to the car. “She’s not here.”   
Steve didn’t follow, forcing Bucky to turn around. “Steve.”   
“We should wait.” Steve said, taking a sip of his drink. Bucky glowered at Steve as he walked back to stand next to him.   
“Steve.”   
He shrugged. “It’s just a feeling.”   
Bucky rolled his eyes, but settled himself next to his friend. 

It was only a few minutes of waiting, but Bucky was certain it was at least an hour before they heard footsteps. Both men turned to see a young woman with white hair wearing a black pea-coat walking along the bridge.  
She glanced at them briefly before making her way to the opposite railing. 

Bucky nudged Steve with his elbow. “Is that her?”   
“I think so.” 

\---

“Excuse me, ma’am?” Steve called, walking over to where Yuliya was standing. She turned, grabbing her coffee from the ledge, giving Steve and Bucky a cautious glance.   
“Yes?”   
“We don’t mean to interrupt, I’m Steve Rogers and this is James Barnes.” Steve said offering his hand and a friendly smile. Yuliya didn’t take it, instead giving him a look that reminded him of the first time he had seen her and the woman she was with. Steve quickly shoved his hand in his coat pocket after a few awkward seconds.   
Clearing his throat, Bucky did his best to hide his laugh. Steve shot him a glare before turning back to Yuliya. 

“I don’t know if you remember.” Steve started, offering another smile, this one a bit more awkward than the first. “But we met a couple of years ago.”   
Yuliya cocked her head, studying Steve. She would admit he looked familiar, but she didn’t remember meeting him at any point. Her eyes bounced between Steve and Bucky, she didn’t recognize Bucky, but she could remember seeing Steve on TV from time to time. 

She shook her head. “I’m sorry. I don’t remember meeting you.”   
“Yeah, I kind of figured.” Steve said, rubbing the back of his neck. “It was about two years ago, right after the attack on New York. You, uh-” Steve sighed, unsure of how to continue. “You were trying..” 

“I was trying to get to Loki and Thor before they left.” Yuliya finished, looking down at her coffee cup. A forlorn smile crossing her face.   
“Uh, yeah.” Steve nodded.   
“You knew him, right?” Bucky asked, interrupting Steve’s awkward scramble for conversation. “Thor, I mean.” 

Yuliya’s head snapped up at Bucky’s question, anger flashing through her eyes for a brief second, making the two super soldiers tense.   
“I knew them both.” She said curtly, taking a sip of her coffee and trying to calm her rising temper at the question. “But that was some time ago now.”   
“So you’re from Asgard?” Steve asked, forcing himself to relax a bit. “What are you doing here?” 

Yuliya gave an awkward chuckle, running her free hand through her hair. “Everyone makes mistakes.” She shrugged. “Mine dropped me here.” 

The two men nodded, both familiar with the guilt that laced her voice. A sombre air surrounded the three and a few awkward seconds passed before Yuliya cleared her throat and spoke.   
“Uh, you guys hungry? I know a good burger joint a few blocks away.” 

Bucky grinned. “I can always eat.” 

\---

Yuliya, Steve, and Bucky made their way through the door to a small restaurant and were greeted with a warm welcome from one of the servers.   
Yuliya was happy to give recommendations on what she loved the best and Bucky and Steve were all too happy when the food came out.   
Conversation turned lighter and away from the original questions of who she was and what she was after after the food was half devoured and Yuliya was happy to discover she actually enjoyed the company of the two Avengers. 

Steve was much sweeter than she had thought when she had first seen him on TV. He had always seemed nice, sure, but in person, he was much more personable, much kinder.   
Bucky was feisty and sarcastic, often poking fun at Steve, and pretty quickly Yuliya. He reminded her of Brandr, both of them sarcastic jerks, she loved it. 

As lunch finished and the check was dropped off a small argument of who would pay broke out. Yuliya finally surrendered when it was obvious the two men wouldn’t let it go. Bucky triumphantly snatching the check from her and handing it to Steve.   
“What? You’ve got the Stark card.” Bucky said, grinning when Steve rolled his eyes and paid. 

The weather outside hadn’t warmed any during their time inside and Bucky and Steve couldn’t stop the groans of displeasure escaping them when the wind came howling around a corner. 

“How are you not miserable?” Bucky grumbled, burying part of his face in the grey scarf wrapped around his neck, and eyeing Yuliya curiously as she walked beide him. Seemingly without a care in the world or shiver with how underdress he thought she was.   
She shrugged, stuffing her hands in her pockets. “I’ve always liked the cold. My parents said it was something in my blood.”   
Bucky gave a grunt of disapproval at her vague answer, causing her and Steve to share a laugh at his scowl. 

Pulling her phone out of her pocket, Yuliya checked the time and looked at the couple texts she had gotten. “Well, I need to get going.” She said after shoving her phone back in her pocket. “Dagny and the others should be back home soon and I still need to stop at the store.” She gave her two new companions a smile, one that was much more genuine and relaxed than earlier in the day.   
The super soldiers returned her smile with wide grins of their own, making Yuliya giggle a bit when realizing they looked like such puppy dogs. She couldn’t see how she was so wary of them at the start of the day. 

“Oh! Steve, let me see that little journal.” Yuliya said, stopping at the corner of the block. Steve stopped beside her, fishing in his jacket to pull it out of one of the inside pockets.   
She took it and opened up to a blank page near the back, wrote her phone number down with her name above it.   
“I can’t guarantee I’ll always answer every time, but feel free to call or text if you guys are in the area and want some good food.” She grinned, handing Steve’s journal back to him.   
“Oh, we will!” Bucky said, grinning. 

\---

Dagny, Veleif, and Brandr came home late that night. All three of them tired and a bit bruised. Apparently, things didn't go as well as they had expected.   
Yuliya was in the kitchen, checking on the pot roast she had started earlier that day, when the three stumbled their way through the front door.   
“Hey, how’d everything go?” Yuliya asked, as the three filled into the living room, dropping their coats and weapons on the floor.   
Brandr groaned in response before face planting on the couch. 

“That well, huh?” Yuliya asked sarcastically, following behind her friends and picking up their coats to hand up by the door.   
“It wasn’t it.” Dagny answered bitterly, flopping into one of the recliners. 

“Fuck.” Yuliya muttered, rubbing her forehead, angry tears pooling in her eyes. It was beginning to feel like no matter what they did, they would always be a step behind, always be just out of reach.   
‘Maybe they were meant to be cursed.’ Yuliya found herself thinking. ‘This was her punishment for falling in love.’

A gentle hand came down on her shoulder, giving it a squeeze. When she looked up she was met with Veleif’s green eyes and a small, sad smile on his face.   
She tried to smile up at him, but it didn’t do anything but push the few tears from her eyes and down her cheeks. Veleif wrapped his arms around her shoulders, bringing her into a tight hug. Yuliya reciprocated immediately, wrapping her arms around the tall, muscled man's waist and let herself cry into his shoulder. 

After a few minutes she pulled back, wiping her face with the palm of her hand. Veleif gave her shoulder another squeeze before heading to his room. Veleif was always like that, never much to say, but always a hug or show of support when you needed it most. 

“Foods almost ready. Anyone need medical attention?” Yuliya asked, her voice a bit shaky as she walked to place herself more in the center of the living room.   
“No.” Dagny and Brandr groaned in unison, making Yuliya chuckle despite herself. 

“Well, go clean up. You two stink.” 

\---

The next few days were quiet in the house. Dagny, Veleif, and Brandr recovering from their mission gone wrong and Yuliya throwing herself into more research.   
It seemed every time they found the key, it either turned out to be nothing or it suddenly disappeared. Yuliya could feel the hope draining from her every time they came back with nothing but anger and bitterness. 

This life was hard enough as it was, being cut off from her magic and her people only made it all feel that much worse. 

It wasn’t the ringing of her phone that broke Yuilya’s concentration, but the small decorative pillow that collided with the side of her and Dagny’s yelling.  
“Yuliya! Answer your phone, damnit!”   
Yuliya glared, throwing the pillow back at where Dagny was still sitting on the couch, giving a triumphant “Hah!” when it smacked into her forehead.   
Yuliya didn’t recognize the number when she looked at the screen, but that wasn’t too uncommon, she had plenty of people calling her that used a different phone nearly every time. It was simply part of the life they lived. Although that never stopped her from having a little fun with the caller and their customers knew that, at least most of them did. 

“City Morgue. You kill it, we chill it. How can I direct your call today?”   
“Uh…” A beat of silence on the other end had Yuliya grinning like the Cheshire Cat. Dagny rolled her eyes, amused, but annoyed, and got up to move to sit at the table across from her. 

“I - uh.” The caller, sounded like a man to Yulliya, cleared his throat before continuing. “I must have the wrong number. I was trying to reach a Yuliya Holiday?” The last sentence coming out sounding more like a question than a statement.   
Yuliya smiled, she was pretty sure she recognized the voice. “Well, you got her. How can I help?” 

“Oh. Hey, uh, it’s Steve.”   
Laughter bubbled up in Yuliya and it took a few tries for her to calm down enough to have an actual conversation. Thankfully Steve seemed to find it funny after a few moments, although he was definitely perplexed as to why anyone would want to answer their phone that way.   
If Dagny could have heard him, she would have easily shouted her agreement. 

There were a few more calls from Steve that Yuliya answered in any ridiculous fashion she could come up with. He was far too easy to ruffle and Yuliya could understand why Bucky poked at him regularly. His reactions were far to wholesome for the world she lived in. 

After a few weeks of getting to know the super soldiers better, she invited the two over for dinner. The Thylwythau were getting curious, and they all knew if it went well, they could potentially have a good, very strong ally on their side.   
“Come meet the Thylwythau, the family. They’re curious about you.” Yuliya smiled as she sipped her coffee.   
Both Bucky and Steve agreed they would love too. 

While Yuliya had told the two men about Dagny, Veleif, and Brandr, she hadn’t told them everything. She did not trust so easily anymore, having learned that lesson harshly already. She wasn’t willing to put the last of her family at risk as she had done before.   
Depending on how well the Thylwythau and the super soldiers got along would determine what else the men would get to know. 

“Steve, Bucky.” Yuliya said as she walked them into the dining room. “This is Veleif, he doesn’t talk much, so don't take offense.” She pointed to the tall caramel skinned man standing near the head of the table. He was wearing a light blue button up that did nothing but show off his chest and arms. His chestnut hair had been left loose and fell to his shoulders in waves.   
His green eyes scanned Bucky and Steve intensely, assessing how much of a threat they really were. After a few seconds, but felt much longer to those not in the stare down,Veleif relaxed his shoulders and gave them both a small nod and smile. 

Yuliya beamed at the man before moving on. “This Dagny.” The woman standing next to Veleif couldn’t have been shorter than 5’8”, but she looked much shorter in comparison to the 6’5” man that was Veleif standing beside her.   
Dagny had grown her hair out some since the first time Steve had met her, now it was just above her shoulders, but still as black as night. She had a couple braids in her hair, framing her face and bringing more attention to her hazel eyes.   
She was wearing a red blouse and jeans, both hugging her figure in the best ways.   
“Veleif is her mate and she’s our resident healer, but don’t go whining to her about every little injury or she won't treat the big ones when they happen.” Dagny gave a huff and an eye roll, but a smile tugged at lips as she said hello to the newcomers. 

“And this is Brandr.” Yuliya made a sweeping motion as the young man came into the dinning room from the kitchen, carrying a pot of something he had been finishing up when Yuliya went to answer the door.   
He stopped in his tracks, looking at Yuliya, Steve, and Bucky like a deer in headlights.   
“He’s, how would I put this..” Yuliya trailed off, looking for the correct word to describe what Brandr was to the Thylwythau. She hadn’t really explained their magic to the two Avengers in depth yet. 

“Our bloodling. Your Mhrentis.” Dagny finished matter-of-factly, crossing her arms and giving Yuliya a pointed look.   
Yuliya sighed. “Yeah, I haven't really gotten around to the in-depth explanations.” 

Brandr snorted as he set the pot on one of the hot plates that had been set out on the table and then smoothed out his hair. The reddish-brown waves he always kept in a low ponytail had come a bit loose from sprinting around the kitchen all day. His brown eyes looked at the two newcomers with much more curiosity and openness than Dagny or Veleif had. 

“A what?” Steve questioned, looking from Dagny to Brandr to Yuliya.   
“It’s the equivalent of a high level student.” Brandr said before Yuliya or Dagny could say anything, wiping his hands on the apron around his waist and stepping closer to Steve and Bucky.   
“It’s like being in college for our type of magic.” Brandr smiled, holding his hand out to Steve and then, Bucky. 

Dinner was easy after introductions. Steve and Bucky relaxing as food and drink began being passed around. The two of them had plenty of questions to pepper the four other-worldly people and Dagny, Brandr, and Yuliya had no qualms answering them, especially as the alcohol kept flowing well after the food was eaten.   
Veleif stayed silent throughout the beginning of the night, except for the occasional grunt or hum, but his general demeanor was pleasant and relaxed, Bucky noticed. He simply wasn’t a man of many words. 

\---

“Blood Magic,” Dagny started, after the food and plates had been cleared and everyone was sitting comfortably on the couch and recliners, “is a magic that comes from within a person, no one outside of us can replicate it, you can only be born with it. Some experienced seidr users can imitate or learn certain spells, but it’s not the same, and they don’t always have the same effects or outcomes.   
We are often seen as a curse. Seidr users would look down on us, as if we were evil, corrupt animals-”  
“And yes, we can be volatile,” Yuliya cut in, refilling her pint glass and passing the pitcher to Brandr. “But that is only when a blood witch isn’t trained properly or if they become infected.” 

“So many of us had been infected by seidr users before the peace treaty.” Dagny finished, a snarl playing at her lips that was banished as quickly as the words left her mouth. 

A heavy silence filled the room, the four blood witches falling into silence as the memories of harder times came swimming to the front of their minds. Yuliya took a large gulp from her glass, bracing herself by leaning on her knees, before continuing to speak.  
“A seidr user will draw magic from the worlds around them, from Yggdrasil, even if they don’t realize it. A blood witch draws magic from within themselves. It’s powered by our blood, our heartbeat, our life and love and community. We do not survive well without a community. We are alive and powerful and magical because the Norns saw fit to give magic to people in a different way.” 

“Loki was one of the first seidr users I met that didn’t think less of us.” Brandr murmured, tracing the rim of his glass. “He and his mother helped me heal Alrek after Thor…” He trailed off, staring into his glass.   
It was a painful memory for the young blood, nearly losing his ffrind enaid at such a young age. It had been nearly a hundred years since Alrek had almost died, but Brandr could remember everything from that day, from the sound of Isstormur’s howl the morning of to deafening silence after the trolls had been killed. 

Steve and Bucky exchange a look of concern. Neither of them had seen anything other than honesty and honour from Thor in the time they had known him. To think he might have done anything to warrant the anger and sadness radiating off the other three was a concerning thought.

“What happened with-” Bucky’s question was cut off by a high pitched screech and a blur of black and orange flying from the darkened hallway and into the living room. The creature circling Steve and Bucky’s head a few times before landing in Brandr’s open arms, climbing up to nuzzle its forehead into his cheek. A low whining purr emanating from its throat. 

“Well, good morning to you little night walker.” Brandr cooed, rubbing the creatures forehead as it nuzzled it’s head into the crook of his elbow, hooking onto the collar of his shirt with its feet.

Bucky and Steve stared at the creature in Brandr’s arms. Steve slack jawed and Bucky more confused than anything else.  
“Is that-'' Bucky cleared his throat, his eyes darting from Brandr’s face to the creature’s and back to Brandr. “Is that a giant bat?” 

Brandr smiled widely, adjusting his arm so the bat was looking at Bucky and Steve. It stared at them with wide, curious hazel eyes, his ears twitching.The fur around his face was a mix of rusty orange and charcoal with the charcoal much more predominant.   
The rusty orange coming in to frame his eyes and swirl up to his forehead and run the length of it’s head and body. His wings were large and wrapped around Brandr’s bicep, and probably could have another time or two, Steve thought. 

“This is Alrek! My ffrind enaid.” Alrek chirped in greeting with something akin to a smile gracing the creatures face, Bucky thought.   
Steve gave an awkward wave, the confusion evident on his and Bucky’s face. Although Steve seemed much less uncomfortable than Bucky did. 

“Here.” Yuliya said, interrupting the staring contest between the super soldiers and Alrek. They weren’t likely to win anyhow.   
She was standing next to Steve, holding out two new cups filled with...something. Neither Bucky nor Steve could tell what, but they both took it without hesitation. Both men had been so distracted with giant bat flying in they hadn’t noticed her get up, or maybe the two of them had just had that much drink at this point. Whatever ale or mead Yuliya had found, was much more effective than their normal drink. 

“You two will want this if that’s your reaction to Alrek.” She snickered, patting Steve on the shoulder as Dagny whistled a sharp note, and made her way back to her chair, sinking into it with a contented sigh. 

A low growl from the hallway drew the super soldiers attention from Alrek chirping at them to the lynx like creature slinking out of the shadows. Lips curled back into a snarl, its bright, yellow eyes glaring at the two new men. She was not as open to guests as Alrek was. 

“Fara.” Dagny said sternly when the large cat continued stalking towards Steve and Bucky. 

Fara let out a small whine that sounded more like a growl of annoyance, her eyes bouncing from the two Avengers to Dagny.  
“They are our guests and our friends.” Dagny said leaning back into the couch and patting the empty spot between her and Veleif. 

Expelling a puff of air from her nostrils, that if she had been human would have amounted to an annoyed sigh of a teenager, Fara padded her way over to Dagny, gracefully hopping up onto the couch to spread herself across Dagny and Veleif’s laps. Purring when Dagny began scratching behind her ears. 

Fara was large, easily stretching herself comfortably across Dagny and Veleif. Her furr was a dark tan across her back, fading into an almost white on her stomach and down her legs. Dark brown spots were scattered along her body, with no real rhyme or reason to their placement.   
“This is Fara. My ffrind enaid.” Dagny said, smiling sweetly at the lynx laying across her lap. 

“Uh huh.. And what is that exactly?” Bucky asked, eyeing the lynx cautiously. A bat was one thing, but having a predatory cat was just asking for unnecessary danger.

“A soul friend.” Brandr started, picking up Alrek and moving to stand in front of Bucky. “It’s the same as a witch familiar here.” Brandr shifted so the bat was holding onto his forearm instead of his bicep. “Alrek, these are our friends James Buccanan Barnes, Bucky.” Brandr moved his arm so the Alrek was staring directly at Bucky. It’s large hazel eyes darted around Bucky’s face as if memorizing his features. 

Alrek gave a small chirp after a few seconds and Brandr moved him to stare at Steve. “And this is Steve Rogers, Steve.” Again the gold and brown bat stared intensely, scanning the features of Steve's face.   
Alrek chirped and climbed up Brandr’s arm to cling to his shoulder this time, nuzzling his face into the crook of Brandr’s neck. 

“We bond with them as children.” Brandr said, petting the top of Alrek’s head. “It's called a bondio enaid, soul bonding, it’s, uuh-' ' He paused, rubbing his chin. “I suppose you could say it's similar idea to soulmates here or the red string of fate.” He shrugged, rubbing the back of his neck. It was the best explanation he could come up with, even if it felt a bit lacking as he said. 

“Every blood witch has a ffrind enaid.” Yuliya added quietly. “They are a part of who we are and how we live. They balance us in a similar way a Cymar does or how being a part of the Thylwythau does.”  
The hand Dangy was petting Fara with, stilled, her fingers curling around the lynx’s fur and holding them tightly in her fist. A far-away, almost hopeless look in her eyes that Steve recognized all too well. He had seen that same look on Bucky’s face on more than one occasion and in his own reflection if he stared too long, survivors guilt. 

Looking around the group, he could see it in all of them. The looks of haunted souls who had seen unnecessary death and lost a few too many friends along the way of war.   
A silent mourning for friends and loved one lost. 

It took Steve a moment for it all to really fall into place, but when he realized there were no more wild animals bounding out and no more sounds coming from the hallway, he understood. 

Every blood witch has a ffrind enaid.

Yuliya was sitting closer to him than Veleif. Reaching out, Steve gently touching her knee. “I’m sorry.”   
She gave Steve a small smile and placed her free hand on his, lightly squeezing. 

Words seemed to fail to the group for a while and a somber silence fell over the six, although not uncomfortably and not completely. Fara’s purring could be heard much more clearly now and Bucky noted how, even if she was triple the size of a housecat, Fara very much acted like one. 

\---

The night never fully bounced back to the joyous dinner it started out on, but it did begin to improve when Veleif grabbed two more pitchers of beer from the fridge, refilling everyone's glasses, and then raising his, instigating the rest of them to do the same.   
“To those we have and those we will never forget.” He said, a sad smile settling itself across his face as everyone raised their glasses and drank. He, Yuliya, and Dagny emptying their pints and refilling them. 

Bucky, feeling a bit more brazen because of the openness as the night progressed, and more than a little happy to have found an alcohol that could affect him after the serum, settled in his chair more comfortably, letting the last of the tension he held in his shoulders fade, and finally asked the question he had been curious about since earlier in the conversation.   
“So what happened with Thor?” 

Steve nearly choked on his drink, barely managed to croak out Bucky’s name in horror, before Yuliya answered.   
“He ran a group of trolls through our camp.” 

Her answer was met with a beat of silence and then a snort of laughter from Dagny. Both Steve and Bucky stared wide-eyed at the dark haired blood witch, laughing on the couch, a bit of her beer spilling over the edge of her cup.   
“He did more than that!” She said when her laughter finally calmed down. “He destroyed half our camp, injured Brandr and two others, and nearly killed Alrek.” She took another gulp as Fara jumped from her lap and lazily made her way over to where Bucky was sitting. Hopping up to sit on his lap, resting her head on the arm of the chair. 

Bucky froze, his hands up, one holding his beer over the lynx’s head, the other awkwardly hovering over the fur. When the feline made no move to do anything but lay on him and purr, he let himself relax, moving his free hand to stroke her back. 

“The only reason Alrek survived was because of Loki.” Brandr said, smiling brightly at Bucky as he watched Fara settle herself with the newcomers.   
“Loki is a good man.” He added quietly, petting the top of Alrek’s head gingerly. 

Bucky and Steve nodded. While they may not have agreed with their assessment of Thor, both of them had seen Loki take steps to try and right the horrors he had created. Steve had been there when the infection had been discovered, he had watched as Loki and Tony found a way to purge the rest from his system, and he was there in the aftermath. 

“So you were trying to get to Loki then, not Thor?” Steve asked tentatively, giving the white haired woman a small smile, she returned it without hesitation.   
“Yeah, I was.”  
“Why?” 

Yuliya shrugged, taking a sip of her beer before answering. “Because he’s mine.” 

Steve stared, unsure what to make Yuliya’s confession? Was she confessing love for the God of Chaos or was this something else?   
When Yuliya turned to look at Steve again, a smirk was twitching at her lips. “Or at least he was supposed to be.” 

Steve still wasn’t sure what to make of what Yuliya was saying and hoped that she would elaborate if he stayed quiet.

“We were courting.” Yuliya said simply, shrugging her shoulders again. “We met when Thor and his band of fucks drove a group of trolls through our encampment. He helped heal Alrek and Brandr and helped transport the others that were injured to Asgard’s healing wing in record time. I honestly don’t think those who were injured would have made it to the capitol alive if it weren’t for him. He cared about us, and helped us, when Thor and his friends were simply mad we had been in the way. 

If that golden, blumbering oaf had paid any attention to his surroundings he could have easily steered the trolls away from our homes and taken care of them without hurting anyone else.” She took a long drink of her beer, finishing the remainder of it. “But he didn’t. We were just a horde of blood witches after all.” 

She reached for the full pitcher that sat on the coffee table, filling up her glass again, and settling back into her chair, pulling her feet up under her.   
“There are plenty of people who dislike us, but Asgardian royalty are often the worst. So up their own asses. Odin was a damn bastard to deal with, but he respected us and what we could bring to Asgard. Frigga was just plain lovely-”   
“That woman could love anything, even a Jontar!” Dagny added in with a giggle. Yuliya snorted in response, taken aback by how brash her and talkative her friend was being.

“Jontar?” Bucky asked.   
“A frost giant.” Brandr answered as the two women tried to calm down.  
“Ah.”   
“Why is that so funny?” Steve asked Brandr. 

Brandr grinned as he watched Yuliya and Dagny try to stop laughing, only to throw themselves into another fit of giggles when they made eye contact. Veleif looked over to the super soldiers, shaking his head in disapproval, but Steve and Bucky saw the smile on his face when he looked at his mate. 

“Yuliya’s a halfbreed. Her mother was a Jontar and Frigga adored her.” Brandr explained.  
Steve nodded in understanding. Maybe that was one reason why they. He thought. Both frost giants. Both outcasts, it seemed.   
\---

When the laughter calmed down and another round of drinks were passed around Yuliya continued.  
“We stayed in the capitol for a few weeks. Loki and I got to know each other some, and when we left, he tagged along and traveled with us for a while. He fit in well with the Thylwythau.” She smiled happily and lost herself in the memory of the first time she had spent with the dark god outside the capitol for a moment before clearing her throat and continuing. 

“We were travelers, wanders. We didn’t stay in one place too long, but we would go back to the ones who accepted us and what we had to trade and sell often. Asgard’s marketplace was one we would often go back to. The working class are much more accepting, than the upper class.   
Loki didn’t always come with us, but often enough and he would always visit the camp when we were close enough. It was nice.” She shrugged, looking down into her glass. 

“We were young when we met, Loki and I. Old enough to know what we wanted, but childish enough to think it would be possible.  
When we came back to the capitol to start preparing for the Asgardian ceremony, we hadn’t been back for more than a day when we were attacked. They came from nowhere and everywhere all at once. They had fire and bombs that burned everything on site. It was chaos.” 

The last words came out as a whisper. Yuliya had never talked to anyone outside of the Thylwythau about the events of that night, and even at that, none of them went into detail. It was simply, the night of fire to them. 

“I can still hear them-” She cut herself off, taking in a sharp breath. Tears welling up in her eyes. She never minded crying, her father had always told her it was a sign of strength and compassion. You needed the tears and sorrow to be able to love and feel deeply.   
But now was not the time to lose herself in the sorrow or memories, none of them could afford that. So taking a deep breath and wiping her eyes, she continued, speaking in a softer voice. 

“ “Prince Thor will praise me for riding his family of you and your parasite kind. He will ride in and shower me with gold and we will wipe you deplorable things out from Asgard! For he is not blind like his father and brother.”   
That’s what he said as he shoved the Wedi’i Selio into me and burned my Thylwythau.   
I was their Mhrif. I was supposed to protect them and all I did was bring chaos and death to them and I still don’t know if anyone other than us survived!” 

Finally admitting out loud what she feared the most over the past half century, opened the floodgates for Yuliya, and she began to sob, but she didn’t stop talking, or at least trying to.   
“I-I-I h-have no ma-magic! I have no w-way to get us home!” The glass was taken from her hand and set aside by Veleif as he wrapped in her hug, easily lifting her off her feet. She sobbed a laugh out despite herself, at the feeling of being weightless, a feeling she had only ever felt with Loki before all of this. 

Neither Steve nor Bucky said anything, they knew there wasn’t anything to say. No real way to comfort someone who mourned the loss of friends and family without having the confirmation that they were really gone. 

Brandr spoke up as Yuliya’s sobs quieted, his voice quiet and angry. “We’ve been looking for the Agor since we got here, but it always seems to be just out of our reach.” He hissed the last words with anger. “For a long time we didn’t even know if it came with us.”  
Taking a sharp breath in through his nose, Brandr produced an image into the open palm of his hand. The first form of magic Steve and Bucky had seen all night, the two of them gazed with wide eyes at the semi-translucent, slowly rotating image of what looked like some kind of alien skeleton key. 

\---

It was longer than a key should be, about 3 inches Bucky thought, with one end that bulbed out into a teardrop shape, with what looked like runes inscribed on it, although neither Bucky nor Steve could be sure. The other end was pointed, looking more like a sharpened stick than an actual key. The middle of it jutted out in a zigzag pattern, taking up about half an inch of the entire thing.   
It glowed a pale red colour as it rotated, showing itself off to the super soldiers in an ominous and eerie sort of way, before Brandr closed his fingers over the palm of his hand, making the image dissipate. 

Opening his hand again, he showed the men another picture, this one longer and slightly larger, about 4 inches in length in total from the bulb, which looked about the size and shape of a half-dollar, to the ends of the three needles protruding from the back of it.   
The main circle, which looked to have some kind of fractured stone in the middle of it, also had runes engraved around the edges of it.  
This picture too slowly rotated and had the same semi-transparent red glow to it that the first one had. 

Brandr set his drink aside and opened his other hand, palm up and summoned the image of the Agor into it, so he could show the wide eyed super soldiers how it all worked.   
“This.” Brandr lifted the hand holding the half-dollar sized circle and its legs. “Is the Wedi’i Selio, it is a curse, a magic sealer, and infection. It’s only use is to cause pain to those who are not seidr users. This.” He held up the hand holding the strange key looking thing until it was level with the Wedi’i Selio. “Is the Agor. It is the key that unlocks the Wedi’i Selio. It is the curse of our people and, then, often the salvation.” 

Moving his hands, the images blended together and then reformed to show a woman's bare chest, the Wedi’i Selio hovering over where her heart would be.   
Steve felt heat creep up his neck and face at the sudden change in imagery, but didn’t look away.   
“It pierces our skin, our blood, our lifeline, and steals from us, infecting us with madness.” As Brandr spoke, the image began to move. The Wedi’i Selio pushed itself into the woman's chest until the stone was flush against her skin, just barely protruding from her chest now. Her skin turned translucent to show the prongs of the Wedi’i Selio clearly piercing the heart as it made itself a home in the woman’s chest. 

As Brandr moved his hands again, Steve and Bucky watched in horror as a translucent unknown hand reached over and turned the Wedi'i Selio clockwise, fracturning the stone itself inside its setting. The three prongs protruding from it twisting amongst themselves inside her heart, until the Agor had been turned 180 degrees and then their ends barbed out, holding itself in place. 

Twitching his hands, everyone watched as the hand dissipated and the Wedi’i Selio stayed in place, black lines inching out from the stone and into her skin. “That is the infection.” Brandr said, moving his free hand along the lines that appeared and continued to grow.   
“When they reach the head, madness sets in and death is inevitable.”   
With a twitch of his fingers Brandr pulled the Wedi’i Selio out of the chest, the woman's heart ripping from her as well. 

Steve gagged at the sight and Bucky cursed as the image started to dissipate only to reconvene as the woman’s chest with the Wedi’i Selio still firmly stuck in her heart.   
No one said anything as the Agor entered the stone, turning itself counter-clockwise until the cracks in the stone were repaired, the harsh dark lines fading until they were nothing more than pencil marks on a white sheet of paper, and the prong retracted their barbs and untangled themselves from each other.   
Steve held his breath as he watched the Agor remove itself, thankfully pulling the Wedi’i Selio with it and leaving the heart where it belonged, beating inside her chest. 

“We can do nothing, but kill our Mhenadur until we have the Agor.” The resignation with which Brandr spoke made Bucky internally flinch. He had felt that, that hopelessness of every having peace, or rebuilding. It made him want to shout in desperation that it could get better, if only they kept trying. 

But who was he to say? The situation presented to him was far different than his own. An entire family ripped apart by an object no bigger than the palm of his hand. What could anyone say to that?   
He didn’t know if their family was alive or how their lives had been in the years they had spent separated. What could he say to reassure them? Could he even do anything to help?

“Let us help.” Bucky said, ripping open the silence of the room as he spoke louder than he had intended. 

Yuliya, who had calmed down enough to pay attention to the others again, stared at him in surprise. Veleif’s eyebrows raised, but he said nothing. Brandr and Dagny looked at the metal armed man with confusion, and then to each other.   
None of them were certain how to react. They could use the help, they needed the help. They needed more allies, people they could actually trust, not just contacts they had happened to stumble across that may, or may not, give them real leads. 

It was Steve that spoke first. “We want to help, if we can.” All eyes moved to focus on him, sending a shiver of dread down his spine at the looks of desperation on the four witches faces.   
“We have more resources and I’m sure Stark and the rest of the team would be willing to help once we tell them the situation.”

A small, hopeful smile spread across Yuliya’s face. “That- That would be wonderful.”   
Steve nodded, feeling a bit of relief as those around him relaxed, smiling at each other.   
“We’ll talk to the team tomorrow.” He said, smiling with relief and a bit of excitement. 

The conversation trickled off after that, everyone feeling drained from the emotional turmoil and drink over the course of the night. Brandr and Veleif made up the guest room for the two Avengers and everyone slipped quietly into drunken sleep. 

\---

Steve woke up with a groan to the sunlight shining on his face. He couldn’t remember if he ever woke up with anything close to a hangover, but the headache he was now facing had him rethinking how well the serum worked in speeding up his metabolism.   
A pained moan drew Steve’s attention away from the heartbeat in his ears to the twin bed across from him. 

He and Bucky did not make it back to the compound last night, apparently. 

“I can’t remember the last time I was hungover.” Bucky groaned,covering his head with his pillow.   
Steve tried to laugh, but it came out more of a strangled groan when a sharp pain shot through his skull. 

It took quite some time for either super soldier to get up and make their way out of the guest room they stayed in the night before. They were greeted with the smell of cooking bacon and sausage for their efforts of dragging themselves out their beds. 

Breakfast was as much of an event as dinner was the night before. Conversation and laughter came easy to them all after a couple cups of coffee, some food, and Dagny’s ‘patented hangover recipe’.   
Steve and Bucky left shortly after breakfast, making it to the back Avengers compound just before lunchtime. 

“We slept in late apparently.” Steve mumbled when he got a look at one of the clocks in the lounge.   
Bucky shrugged. “At least we got a good meal out of it.”   
Steve laughed, nodding his agreement. 

“And just where have you two been all night?” Natasha’s sweet voice rang through the lounge.   
Both Steve and Bucky flinched, just barely, when they heard Natasha’s voice. She was the only person who could consistently sneak up on either of them.   
Steve often silently thanked god that Natasha was on their side. 

“Oh, you know we were just, uh-” Steve rubbed the back of his neck, looking a bit sheepish. He had never been good at lying.   
“We were out with some friends and stayed with them.” Bucky cut in, giving Steve’s back a slap.   
“Uh huh.”   
“We really were, mom.” Bucky smirked, Natasha rolled her eyes as she walked out of the room, leaving the super soldiers alone. 

A few heartbeats of silence passed between the friends before Steve spoke. “We should tell him.”   
“Both of them.” Bucky nodded.


	3. Everyone is a liar but the God of Lies.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally some real Loki-love! It was kind hard to get into the mindset I wanted Loki and the others to have for this, but I'm pretty happy with the end result!  
> Let me know what y'all think!

Adjusting to life in the Avengers compound had been a trial for Loki at first, but had become easier as the Avengers around him reached out. 

Stark and Banner were interested in studying what had been infecting him, often wanting Loki to join them in the lab for different experiments. While not much actually came of the constant studying and poking of the black sludge-like substance, it was a bonding experience none-the-less. 

The Captain and the Sergeant were enjoyable training partners for the God of Lies. Strong enough to hold their own against himself and his brother, but humble enough to accept their defeat when it inevitably came. And Bucky had somehow made the mortal beverage his brother was so obsessed with actually appealing. 

Loki would never tell Thor, but he often found himself enjoying a cup of coffee from Stark’s overly fanciful machine, a mocha or a latte to be precise. He would never be caught drinking the swill that Thor adored in the morning. 

Pepper would often have tea with him in the afternoons, when she wasn’t traveling. The conversations were mostly centered around fashion and which bistros or cafes Loki needed to try when he felt more comfortable walking around the city. 

She understood his hesitation in leaving the compound, he had tried that once, when he first arrived back and things had not gone well for the God of Mischief. He told himself and the others he was fine with the self imposed imprisonment, despite what Thor would often say. 

Pepper was simply normal with him, that was probably why he liked her the best, Sergeant Barnes coming in a close second. She asked him questions, but they weren’t about his psyche or what happened to him or the infection. She mostly just wanted to know what his favorite colours were or if the blouse she picked out would look better with navy blazer or cream. 

It was easy, so when he finally asked her  _ ‘why’ _ , one afternoon Pepper looked at him with confusion at first, but it quickly faded to a gentle smile. 

“We all make mistakes, some worse than others, yes, but it wasn’t your fault and you’re trying.” She placed a hand on his arm, giving it a gentle squeeze. “And that’s the truly important part.” 

\---

Loki would go on the occasional mission if his magic was truly needed, but like Sergeant Barnes, the rest of the Avengers were perfectly fine with him staying at the compound most days. If he was kept off the radar, ‘ _ SHIELD was less likely to try and use him for the next experiment’ _ , as Stark would say. 

Loki did not mind. He enjoyed the time when the compound was quiet and he enjoyed the time away from the people who seemed to be showing him a kindness he knew he didn’t deserve. Mind-control or not, it was still him that wreaked havoc on their world and home and he knew it was just a matter of time before the other shoe dropped and he was sent back to Asgard to be imprisoned. 

He would never say it out loud, how little sleep he actually got now that he was free, because he didn’t truly feel free. Whatever it was that had been bending his mind to someone else's will may have been gone now, but he still couldn’t leave the compound unattended. Not without setting off a few alarms over at SHIELD. If he was being honest with himself, which he rarely was at this point, he didn’t actually want to leave just yet. 

Loki might tell himself, depending on the day, that it was for his brothers benefat that he did not try to leave the safety of the compound, or because he wasn’t interested in dealing with the ensuing drama that would befall him when Fury was informed. 

But the truth of it was, he knew he was safe, inside the walls of the compound with the Avenger’s and his oaf of a brother prowling around at all hours. And no, Loki wouldn’t say he trusted them, he didn’t need to lie to himself about that one, but it was slightly safer and easier to stay at the moment. 

The safety of the walls didn’t stop the nightmares or the near-constant feeling of being wound like a metal spring, just waiting for the proverbial rug to be pulled out from under him again, but when he woke up gasping for air in the middle of the night, it was comforting to find the dark green walls of his bedroom in the Avengers compound and not the horrors he had just relived. 

So, he stayed and he did his best to make a life for himself on Midgard. Or something like one, anyway. 

\---

It was Thor that Steve approached first. Wanting his side of the story and unsure sure how to approach Loki with this or even if Yuliya’s story was true. 

If it was, it was heartbreaking, and Steve was determined to help in anyway he could, but what if it wasn’t? 

Steve approached Thor a few days after the dinner with Yuliya in the kitchen at the Avengers compound. Thor was sitting at the breakfast table, munching on a box of poptarts, only half awake and still clad in the pajamas Pepper had gotten everyone after too many mornings of walking into the kitchen to find Thor only wearing some boxers. 

“Morning.” Steve said, pouring himself a cup of coffee before sitting down next Thor at the table. 

“Good Morrow.” Thor replied around a mouth full of sugar bread. 

Steve smiled briefly, before it turned into a grimace. Now that he had found Thor alone, he wasn’t sure how to broach the subject.  _ ‘Hey, you remember that woman you hated that died right before marrying your brother? Yeah, she’s alive and here on earth.’ _ He mentally slapped himself, that would definitely not work. 

Thor eyed his friend curiously, swallowing down a gulp of coffee to wash away the poptart. “Something is wrong, Steve?” He asked cautiously after his mouth had been sufficiently cleaned out. 

“Not wrong per say.” Steve rubbed the back of his neck, before finding more appropriate words and deciding to jump right to it. “Do you know a woman named Yuliya?” 

Steve was met with silence at first, Thor staring at his friend as if he grew two heads, before his eyes narrowed into a glare that might have rivaled Loki’s. “Where did you learn that name?” He hissed. 

“Buck and I met her, about a month ago. You and Loki know her, right?” 

“That is impossible.” Thor hissed. “She is dead.” 

Steve stared at the god sitting beside him, hunched over and whispering like an angry child. “Now,  _ where _ did you hear that name?”

“I’m serious, Thor. I know her, and Dagny, and Brandr, and Veleif.” Steve wouldn’t say he was expecting this conversation to go well when he and Buck had first decided to tell the the Gods, but he wasn’t expecting the God of Thunder to react so angrily or move from the table so quickly and violently that he knocked his chair to the ground, cracking part of the frame. 

“Thor!” Steve called after him, but Thor did not stop or turn around, leaving behind his poptarts and his morning coffee. The conversation was over before it truly began and Steve was left alone to sift through the conversation and try and come up with another way to get the golden prince to talk about what he knew. 

\---

“He refused to believe me, Buck.” Steve grunted, hitting the punching bag that Bucky held steady with each word he spoke. 

“If what Yuli said is true, can you blame him?” 

Steve didn’t answer, just continued hitting until the bag finally tore at the seems, pouring all its sand out and onto both of their feet. They both groaned. 

Grabbing his water bottle, Steve chugged the last half and let his body sink to the floor. Bucky joined him as they propped their back against the wall and sat in silence, watching the sand continue to leak out the bag still slowly swinging.

\---

The morning started off normal for Loki, or as normal as his life was at this point. He left his room shortly before sunrise and walked the lesser trafficked parts of the compound. He enjoyed the solitude before the mortals that worked to keep Avengers compound and all of Stark’s business afloat began pouring in for their daily grind. 

No one else but the Captain and Sergeant were up at this hour and they would often go for a job around the compound. 

Occasionally Thor was up, but Loki was certain he would have seen him in the kitchen munching on poptarts when he made his tea, for that's where he always was if he was up this early. 

Loki walked the ground floor, sipping his tea, a white-tea Pepper had gotten on a trip to China sometime last year, she had said. And looking out the windows as he passed them, letting his eyes drift around the silhouettes of the trees as the sun began inching its way to their tops. 

The dreams that had disturbed his sleep throughout the night were still fresh on his mind and while the fresh air might have done him some good, he simply couldn’t bring himself to step outside at the moment. 

Looking out the window, Loki caught the Captain and Sergeant running past, and smiled despite his melancholy mood. 

Loki wasn’t sure how long he had been standing there, watching the sun rise when Thor joined him. 

“Brother.” Thor greeted, but his voice was low and sollom, not the normal happy greeting the golden haired oaf offered in the mornings. 

Loki turned, his brow furrowing when he saw the look of dread on his brother's face. 

“The Captain has brought… some troubling news to my attention.” Thor started, his eyes darting to look behind Loki in the sun, now almost fully risen above the trees. He paused, took a deep breath in through his nose, opened his mouth slightly, but did not continue. 

Loki quirked an eyebrow. “And?” He pushed him, readying himself for whatever news Thor was about to give him. He could guess what it would be. The Avengers had decided to retract their offer to truly let him start to be apart of things. They had decided they did not want him, Odin did not want him either, he couldn’t blame for it. After everything he had done. 

“It- well, I believe-” Thor stumbled over his words, as he often did when trying to have any semblance of a serious conversation and Loki rolled his eyes, growing impatient with his brother. 

“Well, what? Get on with it!” 

Thor’s eyes snapped back to Loki’s, anger and hurt swirling in them like a storm. Loki instinctively readied his magic, assuming he had done something to properly piss off Thor. Again. 

He wasn’t expecting Thor’s shoulders to drop in defeat or when he finally got his tongue under control for him to simply utter. “Yuliya might be alive.” 

Loki stared at him, mouth dropping open. “Excuse me?” 

Thor heaved a sigh, running a hand over his beard. “Yuliya might be… alive.” 

“Excuse me?” 

Thor repeated himself again, this time with a bit louder, annoyance edging into his voice. 

Loki simply stared at him, uncomprehending, unresponsive, as if his brain had shut down, but forgot to tell the rest of his body. His eyes were wide and mouth continued to hang open, and if Thor hadn’t been able to see the rapid rise and fall of his chest, he would have thought his brother turned to stone. 

“Loki?” He asked, caution lacing his voice. He did not move, for if he knew his brother as well as he thought, he would be hit if he did, and he had no interest in being stabbed at this moment. 

The trickster god blinked and tried to focus his eyes, but he only looked through Thor, like one would look through the window on a train. Watching everything, but seeing nothing. 

“We did not find all the bodies.” 

\---

Loki could not sit still, could not think straight after his conversation with Thor that morning.  _ Yuliya might be alive. _ He had said.  _ Steve is saying he has met her and three others. _

_ ‘Could she really be alive?  _

_ Could she and others have survived?  _

_ How?’ _

He paced back and forth in the lounge, waiting for the Captain to show up after his run. He and the Sergeant always came to the lounge after their workouts. ‘ _ They should be here by now’ _ , Loki thought, looking up at the clock hanging on the wall opposite him. 

He grumbled out a curse and began pacing again. 

His mind was a whirlwind of  _ what if _ ’s and  _ how’ _ s, with how little information Thor had acquired from Steve the day before, he had nothing but his own anxieties to fixate on. 

_ Why hadn’t she contacted him?  _

_ Why hadn’t she reached out to Heimdall?  _

_ How could Heimdall not have found her? _

_ What had she been doing for the last half century? _

And then a harrowing thought crossed his mind.  _ What if she had not wanted to contact him? What if she had been hiding from him? _

He stopped in his tracks as the thought planted itself firmly in the forefront of his mind, unyielding in its brightness, shining a twisted truth truth at him that he could not help but believe. 

His world shook as violently as the night he had seen the blaze of their encampment and he was no longer aware of the world around him until a hand came to place itself on his shoulder. Loki spun around, a dagger in each hand appearing in a small wisp of green magic, and readied himself to strike at the enemy. The fire from that night still blazed in his periphery as his eyes adjusted to the face in front of him. 

Steve stood there, both hands up in the air, Bucky standing just behind him, looks of confusion shared across both mens faces. 

Loki huffed, dispelling his daggers. “You are late.” 

“Late for what?” Steve asked, an eyebrow quicking up. 

Loki opened his mouth, the questions that had been racing through his head just moments ago, while still demanding answers, died on his tongue as one thought flashed brightly in his mind. 

_ She left to get away from you. _

The excitement he had felt about the possibility of seeing her again quickly melted into anger, and began moving into rage as he snapped his mouth shut, growling; “Nothing.” As he turned on his heel, quickly walking away, leaving the other two men to look at his retreating back in confusion and growing worry. 

\---

“Captain, Sergeant.” Thor’s voice echoed across the near empty workout room that afternoon as he approached the ring the brothers-in-arms were sparring in. “I would like to know more about your encounter with…” He cleared his throat, putting on a face of determination that fell a bit short when he finished his sentence. “Her.” 

“Her, who?” Bucky started, strutting to the edge of the ring to grab his and Steve’s water bottles, tossing Steve’s to him before opening his own. “Because I know plenty of ‘hers’. “ 

Thor glared, but it dissipated quickly when he saw Steve cross his arms and shrug. He let out a sigh and scrubbed a hand down his face. 

“Yuliya. What do you know of Yuliya?” 

Bucky stepped out of the ring as he began talking. “She’s nice, pretty. A real doll, actually-”

“That is not what I meant.” Thor growled, cutting the soldier off. 

Bucky put his hands up, placating the rising temper of the thunder god. “We met her about a month ago. She’s nice, seems like a good person.” 

“She was.” Thor nodded grimly. 

“She is.” Bucky asserted, crossing his arms. 

Bucky was met only with a grunt and Thor mirroring his crossed arms followed by silence. The three men stood there, Bucky and Thor staring each other down, neither of them willing to back down from their perceived truth. 

It was Steve, ever the diplomat, that broke the tense silence. “Look, Thor, you’re going to have to work with us on this.” 

Thor deflated a little at that, he knew the Captain was right, but wasn’t sure where to begin. 

_ Where could he even start? The night of the fire? Or before that? When he heard the rumors of a possible attack on the training field and did nothing? Or when he let the hateful remarks made by his comrades pass by without reproach? _

_ Or when he joined in? Picking his own fights with the Chieftain for reasons he didn’t want to admit out loud?  _

Thor sighed, scrubbing a hand down his face. “I do not know where to begin.” He finally said, his shoulders slumping and head dropping to look at the floor. “We did not… get along when she was alive.” 

“You ran a group of trolls through her encampment.” Bucky said blandly. 

Thor winced at his friends words. He knew Bucky did not mean any harm by bringing that up particular memory, but the memory itself gave way to shame and guilt, more so now than ever since he had met and befriended all those in the compound. 

These people had become his family, they fought beside him, ate with him, drank and laughed with him. To have one he held not only high regard, but considered to be a close friend bring up something he had tried for the past fifty years to forget, did not feel good to the Thunder God. 

“Yes. I did.” The god spoke softly, sitting himself down on the edge of the boxing ring. “I was a fool back then. I am not now.” 

Bucky dropped down to sit beside his friend, his hand landing on his shoulder to give Thor a semblance of reassurance. He was amongst friends, after all. Steve sat on Thor’s other side. 

Bucky and Steve trusted him, knew him to be a good man, and understood that even good men make mistakes. It was what they did after that truly mattered. 

Neither of the soldiers spoke, simply waiting for their friend to find his words and speak. 

“I thought she, like many before her, only wanted my brother to get to me or the crown. She was brash and outspoken and refused to back down from any fight.” Thor paused, scratching his beard, a small smile gracing his features. “She was a warrior, one of the best, father always said. She could never beat me, although I never seemed to be able to beat her either.” He chuckled, shaking his head. 

“What is she like now?” 

“Brash, outspoken, sarcastic.” Bucky said, a smile on his face, though it faded quickly as he continued to speak. “Sad, in a lot of pain, she says she’s cursed.” 

Thor's head shot up, looking wide eyed at the metal-armed Sergeant. “Cursed?” Bucky nodded. “With what? How?” 

“A  _ Wedi'i Selio _ , is what they called it I think.” Steve answered, drawing the other men's attention to him. 

A myriad of emotions ran across Thor’s face, starting with confusion then leading into realization, and then anger which quickly faded back into confusion, and finally settling on horror as he looked at his friends. 

He knew better than Steve and Bucky the repercussions on of a blood witch having been cursed with a  _ Wedi’i Selio _ , especially if the one cursed was a  _ Mhenadur _ . For Yuliya to have endured that for half a century, Thor realized, would have to have been a torturous endeavour. 

For her to not have gone completely mad by this point, shattered the few hateful things the god still held in the back of his mind. 

The horror of the situation became even greater as his mind drew up the memories of his brother cast spell after spell looking for her, receding into his own madness, convinced that she was not dead. 

_ ‘He could feel it.’ _ Loki had said.  _ ‘Hiemdall might not see her, but I can  _ feel _ her.’ _

“Can you- can you take me to her?” Thor finally asked, his voice no more than a whisper. He did not look at either of them, but stared at the floor. 

Steve and Bucky shared a look of concern over his head. Maybe this would be for the best? Steve thought, getting everything out in the open as soon as possible.

Right?

\---

The evening air was crisp, a slight breeze ruffled Thor’s hair as he made his way up the stairs of the townhouse, trailing behind the Captain and the Sergeant. The snow that had proliferated the city a week ago had finally started to melt away, leaving behind muddy gardens and a near unreasonable amount of puddles. 

Thor anxiously rubbed the sealed cork on the bottle of mead he held. Iit was one he had brought back from Asgard with Loki in mind, but if he remembered correctly it was also one that Yuliya liked. 

Standing on the porch, mead in hand, Thor found himself questioning if his request to be taken to the  _ Mhrif _ was a smart one. They had never been on good terms, he knew, but with time came change, right?

Steve knocked on the dark wooden door in front of him. It had only been a few days since he had last been here and there was a sinking feeling in his gut that it might be the least time. He looked back at Thor, who looked about ready to throw up, and braced himself for the worst as he heard the door open. 

\---

The day had been a quiet one around the house. Velief, Brandr, and Dagny having left that morning to follow another lead on the  _ Agor _ , leaving Yuliya to relish in the silence of the house and work on replenishing their stocks of spells and potions to sell at the next underworld market. 

Kneeling down on the floor of the dining room, Yuliya set her coffee cup aside and tapped a pattern onto the wood floorboards, and smiled to herself as she watched the archaic, midgardian magic she and Brandr had cobble together with their own blood magic come to life. 

A light blue rectangle appeared on the floor with runes in each corner, placing her fingertips on one rune after another she waited as they bled together and moved to form a dip, big enough for her fingers to slide in and grip in the wood, and then pulled. 

The glow faded as the hatch on the floor popped open, revealing a staircase. Picking up her coffee, Yuliya stood and descended the stairs into the basement below. As she walked into the secluded, secret room she passed a hand over the wall. 

Runes, designed by her protege specifically for her, lit up under her magicaless fingertips, activating the lights in the room, bringing the small underground lab to life. 

Bookshelves of varying heights lined the walls, along with shelves above them, all filled with different books, journals, and vials or varying sizes and colours. 

Three different desks sat in the room, one of them covered in papers and pens, old scrolls and ink. Some filled completely with runes in a nearly haphazardous way, while others were written in english in neat orderly fashion, and others laid completely blank, waiting to be filled with spells of all kinds. All waiting to be tied with a ribbon and sold off to those who could not or would not create their own magic. 

The second table held a medium sized cauldron, black in colour with a small bunsen burner settled underneath it. Vials and bottles of varying sizes surrounding it, some filled with different colours, some not filled at all. All waiting to be labeled and sold to those who needed something, but could not or would not speak the words. 

The third table was more sparse and traditionally organized as opposed to the chaotic organization of the other two, it was also the only table with a chair in front of it. It only held a journal, left open just past halfway, a green ribbon sitting in between the open pages, and two pens. The page to the left had already been filled. 

Yuliya sat down at the third table, setting down her mug of coffee and picking up one of the pens and began scribbling on the blank page to the right. 

After a while, and the rest of her coffee, Yuliya put her pen down and headed back upstairs, drained the last of the coffee pot and headed down again, this time stopping at the potions table. 

She spent the rest of her afternoon like that, flitting between the three tables, making potions, writing spells, and writing some in her personal journal. Labeling potions and tonics and packing them in boxes or bags, depending on what they were. Wrapping spells written on scrolls in different coloured ribbons, denoting to Yuliya what they were for, and laying them in a box with the others or, occasionally, on one of the bookshelves. 

It wasn’t until the evening that her peaceful day was interrupted by a knock on the front door. It was a loud and resounding knock that made her jump slightly. Yuliya made her way slowly up the stairs, peeking her head out and looking around the room before finishing ascending the stairs. 

She wasn’t expecting any visitors today or customers. Quietly, Yuliya closed the hatch, letting it seal itself before tiptoeing to find her phone on the kitchen counter. No notifications. 

Another knock resounded through the house, Yuliya nearly dropped her phone in surprise. Scowling at the door Yuliya made her way to it, took a deep breath, and opened it. 

\---

Yuliya’s draw dropped when she opened the door to see Thor standing in front of her. His hair was longer than she remembered it and he wasn’t wearing his usual Asgardian Royalty clothes, instead he was dressed in torn blue jeans, converse, a red t-shirt, and grey zip up hoodie, holding a bottle a mead that she would have recognized had she taken the time to look more closely before slamming the door closed. 

“What the fuck?!” She whispered to herself, her mind not fully catching up to the fact that her eyes had also seen Steve and Bucky until another knock came at the door, along with Steve’s voice. 

“Yuliya? We just want to talk.” 

She didn’t answer and she didn’t move immediately. Her palms stayed pressed firmly against the cool of the door, unwilling to move even at the behest of someone she had started to trust. Not until she heard Thor’s voice, faint through the thick door. He wasn’t trying to kick in her door, or yelling and banging at her to open up. There weren’t any curses or anger being thrown her way, just muffled sadness. 

Her body reacted before her brain could fully form a coherent sentence, swinging the door open violently, knocking it into the wall with a loud  _ bang! _ Thor was already down the steps and onto the sidewalk, Steve and Bucky only a few steps behind him. 

The three men tuned, eyes wide to take in the woman standing in the doorway, arms outstretched and a wild, feral look in her eyes. 

“Wh-what - what are-” Yuliya stumbled, dropping her arms from the door jam. Rubbing her eyes, she took a deep breath before trying to speak again. “What do you want, Thor?” 

Stepping up onto the porch, Thor cleared his throat, handing the mead to Yuliya, although she did not take, instead crossing her arms and looking the Asgardian up and down. “I am sorry.” He said, his voice quiet and remorseful. “I am happy to see you live and hope you will accept this gift.”

Yuliya wasn’t sure what to say, she had no words, for the man standing in front of her now was not the same man she had known fifty years ago. The Thor she had known then, would never come to her door offering a gift and an apology, he would never have stood outside her door and simply waited for her to answer. He was arrogant, self-centered, and spiteful. 

The man standing in front of the blood witch did not stand tall with self-righteousness, nor a hotty, prideful air. His shoulders were slumped, and the bottle he held out, while safe in his grip, was not being forced up on her, rather he held it at waist level, waiting for her to take it from him. 

The expression across his face was one of shame and sorrow, openness and vulnerability. 

_ This was an entirely different man, wearing Thor’s skin _ , Yuliya thought. 

Gingerly taking the bottle from Thor’s hand, Yuliya stepped aside, gesturing for him and their mutual friends to come inside. Thor hesitated but for a moment, before stepping through the threshold of Yuliya’s house, followed by Steve and Bucky. 

“Have a seat, please.” Yuliya gestured to the dining room table as she turned into the kitchen, fetching four glasses from one of the cabinets before joining the superheroes at the table. 

“Would you like to do the honours?” Yuliya asked, setting the bottle in front of Thor. 

He looked from the bottle to her back to the bottle and nodded, before taking it and pulling the cork out. 

\---

It was a custom in the  _ Thylwythau _ , Thor remembered, when a gift such as food or drink was given and the  _ Thylwythau _ accepted, they would often offer the honour of opening said gift to the gifter. 

Thor never fully understood it, even after Loki had explained for the sixth time, but the fact that Yuliya smiled as she took the bottle to pour drinks for them, and poured his first, gave Thor the reassurance that he had remembered correctly. 

After drinks were poured and Yuliya sat, no one talked. Thor opened his mouth a couple times to speak, but no words came out, as well did Yuliya. 

Steve and Bucky sat there, watching awkwardly as the two tried to start up some semblance of a conversation. It was obvious that neither had ever had a proper one in the time they had known each other. 

It was Bucky that finally took mercy on his two other friends, jumping right to what he had found most interesting. “So, Thor thought you were dead.” 

Pint glass half-way to her mouth, mouth hanging open, Yuliya looked shocked, but it quickly turned to a mixture of disbelief and anger as she turned to glare at Thor. “Are you fucking stupid?” 

Thor puffed up his chest in offense and anger running through immediately. “Excuse me?” 

“How daft could you be?” Yuliya asked, although she didn’t give Thor a chance to answer. “A simple curse like this won't kill me! Is that what you all have thought these past years?! That I’m dead!” 

She shot to her feet, knocking over the chair she had been sitting in, causing Thor to rise to his feet. His temper flaring, quickly rising to match the blood witches. 

It took the two only about 5 minutes to fall into old ways, screaming and shouting and gearing up for a physical fight. 

“How stupid can you be?!” Yuliya shouted as she paced, her arms swinging madly.

“The entire camp was destroyed!” Thor shouted back. “No one survived!” 

“I fucking survived!” She shouted back, turning on her heel to face the golden prince. “Three others survived as well!” 

“WE DID NOT KNOW THAT!” Thor bellowed, rising to his full height to compound the woman. 

Yuliya was tall, taller than most of the others in the  _ Thylwythau _ , except a select few, her father, her mother, and Veleif. She was only a few inches shorter than Loki and Thor and while she had always relished the fact that she could fit comfortably in Loki’s arms, she found herself despising Thor for his height alone when they were younger and the way he would use it to intimidate. 

Snarling, Yuliya too puffed up her chest and rose to meet Thor’s challenge. She would not back down, as he would not back down and the two were likely to come to blows, just as they had always done. 

Steve and Bucky rose quietly from their chairs, unsure what it was that was about to happen in front of them, but wanting to be ready to break up whatever altercation finally came to head. 

“Is that why it took you  _ fifty years _ and two mortals to find us?” Yuliya hissed up at Thor. 

“Yes.” He growled back, not missing a beat. 

The look of defiance and anger began to fade as the truth of Thor’s words sunk into Yuliya. Sinking in so deep it made her bones ache, her stomach turn with bile, and legs tremble with uncertainty. She continued to look up at Thor, but her expression softened with worry as a different truth settled into her chest, one she had never let herself think about for more than a passing second. 

“Even Loki?” She asked, her voice coming out small as her stature shrunk, her shoulders slumping and her hand dropping from their place on her hips to hang limply by her sides. 

“Yes.” Thor’s voice was hoarse from the yelling. It had been years since he had shouted with such defiance and vigor. It always seemed to only be Yuliya that could bring him to shout every word with anger. It was a wonder he didn’t bring a storm onto the house. 

“Not-” He coughed, trying to clear the harshness from his voice before speaking again. “Not at first. He spent years looking for you, but-” Picking up the chair the witch had knocked over he led her to sit back down, joining her at the table again, and gulping down half his mead.

“Heimdall could not find you and no spell Loki concotted could either. After so long-” He shook his head, not sure how to articulate the despondency he watched overcome his brother, only rivaled by the anguish of losing Frigga. 

Thor had never been sure when Loki had finally given up on finding Yuliya, but when he finally noticed, he had realized he had not seen Loki or the blood witches varg in almost a week. When Thor had finally found his brother, Loki was not himself, blabbering nonsense that Thor could only make out two things;  _ She’s truly gone, _ and  _ I think he left to join her. _

Loki spent another week locked in his room and when he finally emerged, he was not the same as before, but Thor did not truly notice until looking back now. 

As Thor spoke, Yuliya had unconsciously moved her right hand to hover over the  _ Wedi’i Selio _ , wanting to protect it and rip it out at the same time, she always opted not to touch it if it could be helped, but having her hand close to such a strong vulnerability was comforting nonetheless. 

Wordlessly, Yuliya hooked her fingers into the collar of her shirt, pulling it down enough to show Thor, and subsequently Steve and Bucky, the curse that lived inside her chest. 

Thor inhaled sharply at the sight of the cracked red stone laid in gold planted firmly in Yuliya’s chest. The skin in direct contact with it was black as night, encircling the jewel wrapped in gold, making it more pronounced than even Gungnir’s shine. 

Out from the decaying circle ran black, inky veins. Thor could not tell how far they traveled along her entire body, but he could see how high they traveled up her neck, stopping just after her collarbone. The fingers which held her shirt collar, Thor now noticed, were grey in colour all the way to her knuckles and he could only assume that her fingertips were as black as what encircled her heart. 

“What- What is that?” Steve breathed, eyes wide and concerned as he stared at what Yuliya was finally showing them all. 

“Infection.” Thor answered, his eyes moving from the curse to look Yuliya in the eyes again. “I truly am sorry.” 

Yuliya nodded, a grim smile spread across her face. “At this rate I’ve probably got, what do you think Thor, a century left?” 

“Maybe a little more than that, I would guess a century and a half.” 

Yuliya laughed, and while it wasn’t the joyful sound Bucky and Steve had heard before, it was still genuine. “You give me too much credit, golden boy.” 

\---

“Truly no one survived?” Yuliya finally asked. She could not avoid the question any longer, it burned her tongue with how long she let it linger and now that she had spoken it aloud, she knew she did not truly want to learn the answer. 

“If anyone else survived, they have hidden themselves well.” Thor said somberly, shaking his head. 

Yuliya nodded and finished her drink in two gulps. 

Silence fell over the table again, heavy and somber, but no longer awkward and volatile. As the three Avengers finished off their own drinks in quick succession, Yuliya rose without words, moving into the kitchen to fetch another bottle of mead. 

When she returned, Thor, Steve, and Bucky were standing, putting on their jackets. She looked at them with curiosity, cocking her head to the side. 

“Stay for another drink.” She held the second bottle up, chuckling. “It is not as good as what you brought from home, but Veleif does a good job with what we have here.” 

Thor nodded, smiling. “You honour me,  _ Mhrif _ with your hospitality.” 

Yuliya shrugged and poured another round for each of them, smirking at Thor, Steve, and Bucky. “They are my friends too,  _ Prince _ .” 

Thor bellowed a laugh, infecting the others around him as they decided to sit and drink. As the second drink turned into a third and then a fourth conversation came much easier to the four and the night passed with laughter and the swapping of stories and misadventures. 

Eventually leading Yuliya into showing Steve and Bucky back into the guest room and gathering a pillow and blanket for Thor on the couch. 

\---

When Thor, Steve, and Bucky had returned to the Avengers compound, Thor immediately went in search of his brother, who he found sitting in the library, head in a book he did not recognize with a cup of tea. 

“Brother.” Thor called as he approached. “We need to talk.” 

“What?” Loki snapped, glaring at Thor over his book, annoyed at the disturbance, especially when he had had such a peaceful morning up until this moment. 

Thor took it upon himself to sit in the chair across from his brother, leaning on his elbows, his face cast in a serious expression. “I have seen Yuliya. She lives.” 

Loki stared at him, expression blank, mind blank. The words Thor had just spoken into the air had frozen his mind and turned his silver tongue to lead, but only for a moment. 

He scoffed, snapping his book closed and rising. “Do not be ridiculous, Thor.” 

“Brother, I am serious!” Thor insisted, rising to follow as Loki made a swift exit from the library. “Loki, you were right! Not only, does Yuliya live, but three others!” He exclaimed, catching up to Loki’s long strides with ease. “I did not meet with all of them last night, she said they were out hunting, but she assured me that-” 

“ENOUGH!” Loki roared, rounding on Thor with a fury he had been holding at bay since the first time Thor had brought this up. “I will not hear this anymore! Cease your lying and leave it be!” 

Thor stood shocked at his brothers outburst, he had assumed this conversation would not go well, but for his brother to see the truth in Thor’s words and still call it a lie was worse that he had predicted. He did not move or try to stop Loki as he finally made his exit, only calling out two words to his brother just before the door shut. 

“ _ Wedi’i Selio!” _

\---

Loki did not stop when he heard his brother shout as the door closed, but he felt his blood run cold as the words sunk into his sink. There was a part of him that knew Thor was telling him the truth, a part that knew with absolute certainty that the golden buffoon had not only seen it and understood the consequences of such a curse, but knew how far the infection had spread in her. 

But the other part of him, the one that had dominated him in his time in the ether refused to believe such a thing was possible. 

He had spent years of his life looking for that woman, in every realm he could think, Midgard included, for Thor to have found her without so much as Heimdall to aid him was absolutely ridiculous! Impossible even! 

Loki wasn’t sure where he was going, the rational part of his brain was now checking out, too busy trying to wrap itself around the tangled mess of emotions that Thor had trudged up and dragged around like a plaything. 

He wasn’t sure when he ended up at Tony’s bar a few floors up or even how much he actually drank before he finally passed out, but the next thing Loki knew he was waking up in his own bed, surprisingly without a hangover. 

Loki avoided Thor for the next few days, keeping to himself either in his room or the library. He had no interest in revisiting the subject of Yuliya and he knew Thor would not be likely to drop it anytime soon. 

He was surprised when Thor did not actively come searching for him and honestly, he should have known that his brother was planning something, but Thor had never been a planner and Loki was confident in his ability to avoid those he did not wish to see. 

So, when he made his way from the kitchen one afternoon nearly a week later, sipping a freshly made latte, he did not expect Thor to come through the elevator doors, followed by Steve, Bucky, and four faces he hadn’t seen in half a century. 

One in particular drew all of his attention. She walked with the same confidence he remembered, her hips swaying, and a smirk playing across her lips as she said something to poke fun at Thor, he could tell by the expression on her and his brothers faces. 

She wasn’t wearing anything he recognized, no flowing purple dress, no silver and gold armbands, instead she was glad in a loose fitting lavender button-up, tucked into high waisted blue jeans and maroon boots laced up to her calf. 

Her white hair now fell freely, no braids or beads holding it back, it swayed around her waist as she walked. No crown adorned her head as when he had last seen her. She looked utterly mortal as she walked toward him, but he could never mistake her for someone else when her pale blue eyes met his. 

A soft, timid smile adorned her face as she approached, looking about as nervous and dumbstruck as Loki himself felt. And for the first time in a very long time, Loki found his silver tongue useless, only able to utter one word. 

“Yuliya?” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> How will the reunion go between Yuliya and Loki? Will they fall into each other's arm with love and repair what was broken or will it end in disaster for the very stubborn, hurt souls?  
> What do y'all think of Thor and Yuliya's budding friendship? :D


	4. Old lovers, new world. What could go wrong?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> With Corona shutting so many things down in Texas, but not actually shutting everything down I've found more time to write, so have an early update! My job hasn't totally shut down, so I'm not losing as much money as I thought I would be. That's good, I think? How's everyone else doing? I hope you all are doing well and being taken care of, no matter where you are. <3  
> Also, thank you everyone who has left kudos and comments!! They all mean so much to me. TT.TT I'm dying form pure happiness that people actually like this.  
> If anyone has any constructive criticism, I'd love to hear it! Thank you all again. :3 <3

Mornings were always a quiet affair around the Holiday house, whether that was because everyone was still waking up or because they were gone simply depended on the day. So when a loud knock came at the front door it was safe to say those in the house were startled, some a little more annoyed than most. 

“I haven’t gotten my coffee yet, someone else deals with it.” Yuliya grumbled as she made her way through the hallway and into the kitchen. She didn’t bother looking at the other two, who were sitting at the kitchen table, their own mugs of the liquid caffeine sitting in front of them. 

“It is your turn, Brandr.” Dagny said, doing her best to rub the sleep from her eyes.

Groaning Brandr lifted his head from the spot on the table where he had been dozing and groggily made his way to the front door. Not bothering to stifle a yawn that overcame him as he opened the door or the glare as he looked up at the two unexpected guests. 

“Morning.” Steve said, far too happily for Brandr’s taste. Grumbling Brandr pulled the door open wide enough to be an invitation and walked back to his place at the kitchen table with a dramatic sigh. 

Steve stepped through the doorway, followed quickly by Thor, shutting the door behind himself. 

“Good morrow,  _ Thyl! _ ” Thor said, grinning at Dagny and Brandr, they did not return Thor’s enthusiastic greeting, instead glowering up at the Asgardian from their seats around the table. Brandr decided he was too tired to be angry at anything for long, and let his head fall onto his forearms and the table. 

“Dude, you are way to happy right now.” Yuliya mumbled as she made her way past the two Avengers and sat herself next to Dagny at the table. 

She motioned for Steve and Thor to sit down, sipping on her coffee. “What are two doing here, anyway?” She asked through a yawn. 

“Loki would like to see you.” Thor blurted as he sat down. Too excited about the plan he had been able to concoct with Stark and the Captain.

Yuliya choked on her coffee, coughing violently as she tried to clear her airway. 

Brandr’s head shot up, eyes wide and stared at the two Avengers. “What?” He breathed in disbelief. 

Steve cleared his throat as Yuliya’s coughing fit subsided, he tried to give her a smile, but the look of horror on her face squashed his hopes of this being a visit with good news. He now felt like he was delivering the message of death. He exchanged a worried glance with Thor, before speaking. 

“Bucky, Thor, and I talked to him, but he can’t uh- leave the compound right now because of the-” Steve rubbed the back of his neck, struggling to find the words he and Thor had talked about before heading over. “Because of the circumstances…” 

“Uhuuh.” Dagny drawled, giving Steve a skeptical look. “He doesn’t know does he?” 

“Oh, no! He knows!” Thor cut in before Steve could articulate an answer. “He is simply in denial such a thing could be possible.” Thor said, leaning back in his chair. 

“Well, we thought maybe you guys could come to the compound and y’know meet everyone else.” Steve added with a sheepish grin.

“So, what? It would be like a surprise?” Brandr asked, an eyebrow quirking at Steve. 

Thor and Steve nodded, Thor obviously much more on board with the idea than Steve based on their grins. 

Yuliya and Dagny exchanged a look of curiosity and concern, before Yuliya shrugged and Dagny nodded. Brandr looked between the two women and grinned, understanding what had just transpired between his  _ Mhrif _ and her  _ Cyngor _ . 

“Yeah, alright.” Dagny said. 

“Wonderful!” Thor exclaimed, rising from the table. “Let us depart immediately!” 

“Thor, it is 8:30 in the morning. I haven’t been awake long enough to finish my first cup of coffee. Sit the fuck down!” Yuliya barked, glaring up at the standing, and as far as Yuliya was concerned, far too boisterous Asgardian. 

“If Loki doesn’t stab you for this shit, I will.” The  _ Mhrif _ mumbled as Thor awkwardly sat back down. 

Steve and Brandr chuckled as Dagny shook her head in mock disapproval. 

\---

Yuliya, in a way she had only ever been with Thor, dragged her normal morning routine on far longer than she needed too. Enjoying the growing frustration in the golden prince. He was like an excited puppy dog desperate to go on his first walk. She found it hilarious to exacerbate it, although she would be lying to herself if she said she wasn’t using it as a distraction from the anxiety building up inside her. 

How would this impromptu meeting go? Every possible scenario ran through her head, none of them had particularly good outcomes. As she finished tying her boots, ready except for grabbing the bag Brandr was packing for her, she realized how unprepared she was for this. 

Her hands wouldn’t stop shaking and it took her three tries just to finish tying up her boots. She sat there, on the edge of her bed, staring at the floor, unsure if her legs had enough strength to carry her back to the man she had called her betrothed. 

_ Could she even call him that anymore?  _

_ What were they now? _

_ They all seemed so sure Loki would be happy about this, but what if he moved on?  _

_ What if he had a new betrothed?  _

_ Why was this so hard? _

A knock on Yuliya’s door pulled her from her thoughts, taking a deep breath she stood and opened it, a smile crept along her face as Brandr smiled up at her, shoving the bag he had packed her into her arms. 

“Time to go!” He said, turning on his heel and bounding down the hall. The excitement in her protege had Yuliya chuckling as she followed, slinging the messenger back over her shoulder. 

\---

The drive to the Avenger’s compound was enjoyable and further eye opening for the blood witches. What Yuliya had told them about her conversation with Thor and two super soldiers was verified as accurate and the slow processes of building trust with the golden prince began working. 

It was when the car pulled into the garage and everyone started filling out that Yuliya’s nerves finally got to her. 

“I don’t know if I can do this.” She said, as they waited for the elevator to descend to the garage. 

The floor numbers lighting up seemed to be moving entirely too slow for Yuliya’s ever fraying nerves. She couldn’t do this. She couldn’t face him after all this time with nothing to show for it, but a curse and ever growing infection of blood rot and madness. 

A hand coming down gently onto Yuliya’s shoulder made her jump, her hand coming up to guard the stone in her chest. Veleif smiled down at her and Yuliya did her best to smile back, although she had never been the best at lying. 

“It will be alright,  _ Mhenadur _ .” Dagny whispered, intertwining Yuliya’s fingers through her own. 

“And if you get too anxious, you could do what Loki always did.” Brandr said, far too casually for Thor or Steve’s liking. 

“And what is that?” Thor asked, looking suspiciously at Brandr. 

Brandr grinned, it was a mischievous smile Thor recognized a little too well. “Just stab Thor.” 

Yuliya stared at Brandr, wide-eyed, for a half a second before laughter bubbled up in her and burst forth with such a feriousity that she had to steady herself on Veleif for fear of collapsing. It soon became a chorus of chuckles and giggling as the elevator doors opened and the six of them filled their way inside. Steve shook his head as he punched in code to get them all to the common area a few floors up. 

When the doors finally opened, Yuliya stepped out beside Thor, poking the hilt of her dagger into his side. “You scared, goldie?” She mocked. 

Thor huffed in annoyance, shoving Yuliya by shoulder, making her stumble a few steps to the side. Both of them laughing as Yuliya righted herself. 

And then she heard her name, it came along as a whisper from a voice she didn’t think she would ever hear again and it served to stop her in tracks. 

“Yuliya?” 

She smiled, it was tentative and not nearly as wide as it was before, but it was still genuine tinge with what little excitement she would allow herself to feel at this moment. 

He was different than she remembered, he almost seemed taller. His hair was longer, still pushed back from his face, but coming down to his shoulders in slick black waves that curled around his neck and shoulders. He stood before her glad not his armour or Asgardians finest, but in a dark green, fitted button up tucked into tailored slacks, and dress shoes. 

He held a mug with cartoon cats on it, all dressed up as the Avengers. Yuliya would have laughed if the tension in her stomach and throat wasn’t so tight. She had the same one. 

“You’re alive?” Loki whispered, his free hand coming up to touch her cheek. He stopped just short of actually touching her, his fingers hovering over her skin. She could feel the uncertainty in his movements and silently thanked the norns she wasn’t the only one. 

“Of course I am.” She chuckled nervously. 

Loki’s hand moved from her face to the collar of her shirt, gingerly moving it to see the  _ Wedi’i Selio _ . The stone was more pink than he thought it would be, shining in broken parts separated by light blue lines of her stolen magic. The golden frame glinted in the artificial light above them, illuminating the deep rot around in a sickly yellow light for a moment. 

Loki’s eyes traced the veins of black up to Yuliya’s collar bone and over across her chest. He didn’t know exactly how far the infection had grown, but he could take a guess based on the scars he had seen on other blood witches who had been cursed before her. 

“Did you do this to yourself?” The words came tumbling out of Loki’s mouth before he could stop them. All sound around the two stopped, introductions of the blood witches to the Avenger’s was promptly forgotten as Dagny, Veleif, and Brandr turned to look at Loki with a mixture of horror and anger. 

Yuliya stared up at Loki mouth agape in shock at the question. 

“That- that came out wrong. Let me-” Loki began, but was stopped short as Yuliya’s temper flared. 

“Are you serious?” She snarled. “Did you- really!” 

“Ok, that is not what I meant, Yul-” His words were cut off by Yuliya’s open palm making contact with his cheek, forcing him to look to the side at the wide, disbelieving eyes of Steve, staring at the two of them. 

“Yes, Loki. I did this to myself! I cursed myself to have my magic ripped from my veins!” She was shouting at this point, the anger she had kept bottled up and at bay spilling over into rage as she shoved Loki back. “I did this just to piss you off!! Because I love being helpless and in constant agony!” 

He stumbled back, taken aback by her rage. This was not how either of them had thought this moment would go. 

“Excuse me for not being prepared for you to rise from the dead!” Loki shouted, his own anger rising to meet hers. 

“I WAS NEVER FUCKING DEAD, YOU PUREBLOODED ASSHOLE!” 

“HOW WAS I SUPPOSED TO KNOW WHEN YOU SHIELDED YOURSELF FROM ME?!” 

\---

What should have been a happy reunion quickly devolved into a screaming match. The Avenger’s that were present from the beginning, Steve, Bucky, Natasha, and Tony stood staring wide eyed, none of them having heard Loki scream in such anger since the attack on New York. Pepper appeared beside Tony, along with Peter, both of them having been drawn from the lad by the screaming match. They watched in curious horror along with the rest of the team. 

Thor was shocked at first, but it quickly turned to entertainment as he watched his brother and his beloved fight it out. It had always been him that Yuliya would pick a fight with. He had never actually seen the two of them so angry with each other, though he had heard murmurs of a few 

fights back on Asgard when they were first courting. 

Dagny, Brandr, and Veleif looked more annoyed than anything else, watching their  _ Mhrif _ fight with the prince as if they were children. Although, Dagny would concede that it was probably good for them to get it out now, than hold it in. 

_ Better to air one's grievances at the start, than let them fester in the dark. _

“I searched EVERYWHERE for you, woman!”

“Apparently not EVERYWHERE. I’VE BEEN HERE THE WHOLE FUCKING-” 

Loki had always been quick, quick witted and quick moving, and under normal circumstances Yuliya would have been his equal, but her body was slow with the weight of grief and anger she held onto. She had never been good at seeing through the red of her temper, so when Loki took her by the biceps and shoved her into the wall, mid screech, she was momentarily dazed at the movement and the force. 

She stared up at Loki, shock and offense written all over her. Loki glared down at Yuliya, rage and betrayal burning in his eyes. 

“Listen closely to me, Yuliya.” Loki hissed, hot air washing over her face. She could smell the coffee on his breath, the mug Loki had been holding just a few moments ago had been abandoned, shattered on the floor a few steps away, and all but forgotten by everyone in the room. 

“Forty-five  _ years _ I search for you. Every spell I could find I used and when those failed I made my own. Every pathway through Yggdrasil I followed and followed again, calling for you, searching every place known to Aesir and beyond. 

And all with  Ísstormur by my side. We forged new pathways to new and old words, this one included. We howled your name to every moon and you still did not answer. Not even Heimdall could find a trace of you.” The grip Loki had on Yuliya’s arms tightened as he spoke, and she was sure she would have bruises by the end of the day that looked like his fingers. 

That thought alone should have angered her further, but the part of her that had yearned for him, that had screamed into the sky until she couldn’t speak, that had helped her get up every morning in spite of the physical pain she felt when she moved, in spite of the grief that racked her mind most days screamed out to listen and accept the truth of his words. 

“And then he left too.  _ Forty-five years _ after you disappeared, he ran into the night and left me completely alone. What was I supposed to think? If you were alive and well why-  _ why  _ _ Mhenadur _ \- would he, of everyone, disappear leaving no trail of hope behind?” 

It was a rhetorical question Loki was posing, he knew there was no real answer, nothing that could be said to right what had happened, to make the last fifty years any less harrowing for either of them. 

But it needed to be said and so he said it and he watched as the anger drained from the woman he had spent years of his life chasing after. Her shoulders dropped and the ice of her blue eyes melted into tears, welling up and waiting for one more blow of his words to push them over the edge. 

Loki’s grip on her arms loosened, but he did not completely let her out of his grasp. His own rage dying along with hers into nothing but a pile of warm embers. The sorrow that had gripped his heart in like a vice began to loosen as his chest fell and rose in deep breaths. Opening his mouth speak, Loki only let out a deep sigh, there were no more words for him to speak, nothing more to say than maybe a confession of love, but he had no words that seemed proper enough or correct enough to adequately convey his love and utter disbelief. 

Slowly he trailed his right hand up Yuliya’s arm, his fingers skimming over her throat, before coming to rest on her cheek, cupping her face with a gentleness he hadn’t been sure he still had within himself. 

A light shade of pink had traveled up from her neck and spread to her face, but whether it had been from the yelling or because Loki was touching her, he didn’t know, nor did he particularly care. She was as beautiful now as she had been then, and to have her, not only within arms reach, but actually, physically in his arms was a blessing he knew he didn’t deserve and he was not about to waste any more of it. 

His left hand snaked from her arm to hold her by the small of her back, pulling her body towards him until her chest hit his and felt her breast shudder at the sudden contact. He hadn’t realized her hands had moved until he felt them gripping the collar of his shirt, pulling him down to her until their noses touched. 

It was a moment that could last for an eternity, and Loki hoped it did. Just having her in his arms was enough. The world around him had faded away, the only thing he saw, or heard, or cared about was her. The way her breathing picked up as she pulled him closer, her pupils dilating until her eyes were almost black. 

But moments like these don’t last forever, they rarely even last more than a minute or two, especially if you’re someone who has racked up a rather large negative karmic balance in the eyes of the norns. 

And the norns have a terrible sense of humour sometimes. 

“So, what’s happening, Mr. Stark?” Peter asked, his voice, while quiet as he tried to whisper carried through the otherwise silent hallway, shattering the newly reunited lovers from their world. 

Yuliya and Loki shot away from each other like Thor had just thrown a lightning bolt at them. Loki almost tripping over his own feet before his back made the acquaintance of the wall opposite the panting and wide eyed blood witch. 

Loki found himself out of breath as well, as he bent to steady himself on his knees, focusing his eyes on the floor, not daring to look up and meet the eyes of anyone he knew. 

Yuliya, for her part, had the decency to turn a scarlet red as she looked around the room, her eyes darting from faces she knew to ones she didn’t. This was going to be an interesting day. 

\---

“So, that jewel is slowly killing you?” Pepper asked, an edge of morbid curiosity to her voice. 

Yuliya nodded as she pulled the collar of her shirt back over the  _ Wedi’i Selio _ . 

Brandr had done a decent job at explaining their circumstances, but being shown the real thing and not a magical projection always seemed to have a bigger impact. 

It was different to see the colours contrasting against each other, instead of something only coloured in red. To see where and how the infection spread from something so relatively small. 

“At this rate I only have about fifty years left, maybe a century if I’m very careful.” 

“You say that as if that’s not plenty of time.” Natasha scoffed, an eyebrow raised. 

“My kind live millennia.” Yuliya stared blankly. “We’ve been here half a century already and have had our shit handed to us again and again trying to find the  _ Agor _ . I’m not exactly bright eyed and hopeful we’ll do any better by ourselves in the next half.” 

“Do you have any leads on it?” Tony asked. 

“Hydra had it, last I heard.” Yuliya shrugged. “But the information we get is not always reliable.” 

The looks of curiosity and interest, prompted Yuliya to mumble her response to the silent questions. “The markets are full of information, it is a lot to sift through and most of them are bullshiting assholes who like to make everyones elses lives as miserable as possible.” 

“Markets?” Steve asked, looking from Yuliya to Stark and back, the feeling of having missed something important coming over him. 

“ Underworld markets .” Natasha answered. “Markets for those of magical lineage or means.” 

Yuliya nodded, side-eyeing Natasha with curiosity. It wasn’t often that a mortal knew about it. 

“We have a booth there. It helps us get along. You’ve been there?”

Natasha shook her head. “No, never could find the door to it, but I’ve heard of it.” 

Yuliya smiled. “Maybe we can take you some time.” 

  
  


It would be wrong to say that air in the room was not fraught with tension, but it would also be wrong to say that the tension was spread throughout the entire room. Though they sat next to each other, Yuliya felt as if she was still worlds away from Loki. The coil in her stomach grew ever tighter with each conversation that Loki did not chime into. 

It was his voice that she had missed the most, and now that she had heard it again, not just in her memories, but in reality, she couldn’t keep herself from looking at him, waiting for him to speak, to ask a question, even to give a snide remark. Anything, but Loki said nothing throughout it all. 

When questions and discussions started coming to a close and Yuliya and hers began rising to leave it was Tony Stark that finally drew Yuliya’s complete attention. 

“So, we’ll set up rooms for each of you and have you guys moved in here by what- tomorrow?” 

Yuliya froze, looking at Tony as if he was crazy. “I’m sorry, what?” 

“We’ll have rooms for each of you to move into by tomorrow.” Tony said again, returning the look of crazy to Yuliya she had given him. 

“No. No no. We’re not leaving our house. It is ours.” 

“So, what? You gonna commute to us in your own car?” Tony chidded. 

Yuliya opened her mouth only to close it again, quickly looking to Dagny, who shrugged in response. 

Yuliya narrowed her eyes and Dagny tilted her head to the side. 

The silent conversation between the women went on for a few moments, leaving those in the conference who had never experienced a blood witch counsel at a loss. Each of them gesturing and scrunching their faces in peculiar ways until Yuliya huffed, throwing up her hands. 

“Fine! Fine! We’ll move into the stupid compound, but we’re no giving up the house!” 

\---

Packing up their entire life was not something foriegn to the  _ Thyl _ . They had done it hundreds if not thousands of times over their lives. It was a part of who they were as a people, moving from place to place, ready to experience every new culture and landscape they could plant themselves on. 

But it had been different when they landed on Midgard. The times the Blood witch had come to Midgard had never been exactly profitable for them. Humans hadn't always taken too kindly to those with magic, especially those with magic like the  _ Thylwythau _ . 

It had been nearly twenty years since Yuliya, Dagny, Veleif, and Brandr had packed up and moved somewhere new. They had learned the hard way that humans had evolved from barter and trade and solely relied on their monetary currency. 

Yuliya stood in the empty living room, hands in her pockets, watching the movers Tony had provided take the last of the furniture. A deep sigh escaped her as she looked around the room, she had gotten used to being in one place and while she couldn’t say she was perturbed about moving again, she wasn’t the happiest about leaving what they had spent so long building here. 

“Yul.” Loki’s voice pulled Yuliya from her thoughts. 

She smiled as she turned to face him. “I haven’t heard that name in a while.” 

“Well, I was the only one allowed to call you that.” Loki chuckled. “Shall we?” He motioned to the empty room and Yuliya nodded. 

Leading Loki a few paces into what used to be furnished as the dining room, Yuliya knelt and tapped out the sequence to open the hatch to her lab. Once open she started down the stairs, Loki following behind her. 

“You think you can do it?” She asked once they reached the bottom. 

Loki side eyed her, a little annoyed that she of all people was questioning him now. “Of course I can. What do you take me for?” 

The only response she could give was a shrug. Loki scoffed and Yuliya stuck her hands back into the pockets of her jeans, unsure what she had said to offend him. “I’ll uh- I’ll leave you to it then. Don’t want to get caught in the magic.” 

Yuliya bounced back up the stairs quickly, probably a little too quickly. It wasn’t a good excuse she had given Loki, she knew that. She knew that he knew that too, but being alone with him was hard. It all felt awkward and stunted, like she was reaching for something she kept falling through instead of holding onto. 

She had always assumed that when she was with him again, it be like nothing had kept them apart, they would pick each other up and continue on with their lives as it had been before the attack. 

She was wrong in that assumption, very very wrong. The tension radiating off him every time they were left alone together was palpable and she doubted she was any better. Her heart fluttered and stomach knotted every time she caught a glimpse of him. Her tongue tied itself and turned to lead every time she tried to speak. 

Granted, that wasn’t as unusual for Yuliya as it was for Loki, she had always gotten tongue tied when she was nervous, or when she spent too long talking, or thinking. It was the feeling of her body fraying, far too excited to stay in one place, along with her thoughts at war. She wanted to touch him, to feel the safety his arms once made for her, to hear his laugh and see his smile. To feel his lips on hers and have him laying on top of her, caging her in as kisses and sweet nothings were exchanged. 

But where did they stand now? All this time Loki had thought she was dead and she had continued to think of herself as his betrothed. They weren’t mated and she was starting to wonder if they would be. 

Nothing was as it was before and she now knew it would never be the same.

When Loki came up the stairs, the smile he gave Yuliya was tight as he handed her the small, but heavy box. She nearly dropped it as she tried to rush after him and the long strides of his legs. They didn’t talk on the trip back to the compound. 

\---

The halls felt sterile to Veleif as he walked them. No personality, no colour, just glass on one side and bare white on the other. He didn’t like it all that much, but he was not one to complain about the things he couldn’t change. 

His bare feet padded silently down the glossy floors of the hallway, while a soothing white light along the corner between the floor and wall led him through the maze like building. 

He looked around occasionally as he walked, giving small head nods to the few people he passed when he noticed them. He did his best to not look out the window too much, it didn’t do much but make his heart ache, and there was no reason to put himself through that torture today. 

He could do that tomorrow with Dagny standing by his side. A small smile formed on his lips as he thought of his mate. 

_ How many years had it been now? _ Far too many to keep track of. A lifetime and then some since she had found him. 

He needed to get her something soon, he realized. It had been long enough since the last gift. 

He chanced a glance out the windows. Maybe he could hunt her something.  _ Was that allowed here? _ He thought. He did not know, he would have to ask Brandr or Steve. 

The lights along the floor stopped at one of the glass sliding doors and Veleif stopped with them, turning to face the door. He looked puzzled as he stared at the door, his head cocked slightly to the side. There was no handle or knob for him to use to open it. 

“If you step up to the door, it will open automatically for you, sir.” FRIDAY’s voice ranges through the empty hallway. 

Veleif looked up to the ceiling. “Thank you.” He said as he stepped closer to the door, his eyebrows shot up in surprise when the door slid open by itself and out of his way. 

He stood there for a moment before cautiously stepping through, unsure if he liked the automation of this building. 

Looking around, Veleif was happy with himself in being able to recognize most of the equipment in the room. The room was large and mostly open, a large, bright red training mat took up most of the open space in the middle, with weight lifts and treadmills, and a few other things Veleif did not recognize lining the walls that didn’t have windows. 

“Veleif!” Whipping his head around to the sound of his name, Veleif was greeted with a grinning, sweaty Bucky waving at him from across the room. 

Bucky is standing with Steve, holding some kind of giant pillow looking thing, hanging in the air by chains. Padding over he points to it, his head quirking to the side in a silent question. 

“Punching bag.” Bucky responds without hesitation. Veleif nods, but the simple explanation doesn’t do much for the out-of-the-loop bloodwitch. 

“You hit it.” Steve interjects, throwing a couple of punches at the bag. “It’s for working out, specifically for boxing.” 

Veleif nods again, making an  _ ‘ah’ _ , noise, satisfied with the Captains explanation. 

Steve chuckled, grabbing his water bottle sitting on the floor a few feet away from him, draining half of it in a few gulps. 

“Alright. Let's see what you got.” Bucky said, cracking his knuckles and leading the other two men to the training mat. 

\---

“How’re you settling in?” Pepper’s voice was sweet and soft as she settled herself in the chair opposite Brandr at the kitchen table. 

“Pretty well!” Brandr replied cheerfully, the smile on his face reminding Pepper of a child who had just been given ice cream. “Being out of the city is a blood send, honestly.” Brandr chuckled, taking a sip of his coffee. “It has been far too long since Alrek and Fara have been able to have some freedom outside.” 

“They certainly seem to be flourishing.” Pepper agreed, sipping on her own mug of tea. 

Fara and Alrek had been rarely seen inside the walls of the compound since the blood witches moved in. Choosing instead to stretch their legs and wings on the vast expanse of land Tony had. They would come in a few hours, check on their  _ ffrind enaid’s  _ and then bolt back outside when they were satisfied everything was still well. 

Settling into the rooms that had been cleared for four blood witches had been fairly easy for them. Dagny and Veleif had wasted no time in making a nest in their room, informing Tony that the two rooms he had set aside for them had been unnecessary. 

Yuliya and Brandr were quick to claim the second room to transport their lab into, neglecting their own rooms until the lab was set up. Although it only took each of them a few hours to get their belongings in order. 

It didn’t take long for Brandr and Yuliya to find themselves back in their make-shift lab, filing inventory for the next time they were able to make their way to the markets. 

Brandr had left the door to their make-shift lab open. He felt safe in this space and Yuliya had agreed that it would probably be fine. As long as everyone understood not to go around touching everything. 

  
  


Loki stood leaning against the doorframe, watching Brandr and Yuliya flit about each other. Making potions, joking around, and crafting spells. The corner of his mouth twitching into a smile as he watched the two move around each other with precision and grace that could only come have come with years of practice, they had been practicing for most all of Brandr’s life after all. 

He would make a wonderful  _ Mhrif _ when the time came, Loki thought. 

They hadn’t noticed him yet, or rather they hadn’t acknowledged him yet. Loki noticed the quick glances Yuliya would steal of him as he stood there. Seeing as how his eyes never left her dancing form, he could hardly blame her. 

He could see the tension in her shoulders, feel it roll off her in waves, only striking him. Loki wasn’t sure how long he stood there before Yuliya finally acknowledged him, but the way his stomach flipped when she finally spoke to him made him feel like he was but a youth again. Chasing her for the first, doing everything in his power to make her notice him as something more than just Thor’s brother. 

“Are you going to just stand there all day or are you going to help us, Lo?” Her voice was like honey mead to his ears and he couldn’t help the grin spreading across his face as it served to light a fire his veins as he approached. 

“I haven’t heard that name in a while.” He chuckled, standing on the opposite side of the table. 

“Well,” Yuliya smirked up at him. “I was the only one allowed to call you that.” 

Loki shook his head, laughing and for the first time in a long time it was genuine and light and rang out through the room. Yuliya’s own laughter joining in, mixing together in the air giving life to an old song that hadn’t been heard in far too long. 

“What will you have me do, dearheart?” 

Neither Yuliya nor Loki noticed when Brandr slipped from the room, too absorbed in each other and the lighter air surrounding them. It wasn’t the same as when they were first courting, it wasn’t even close, they had spent years chasing each other and finding everything out about the other one that they could. 

But it was still good, still something other than apprehension and trepidation. It was laughter and bumping into each other as they tried to find their rhythm again. It was dancing to music only they could hear and spilling potions as hands trembled from excitement rather fear. 

They didn’t talk, not really, not about anything that mattered.  There were words to be said, of course, conversations to be had, maybe even a life to try and rebuild,  but nothing of true substance came out of either of them. 

Until a heaviness settled onto Yuliya’s heart when she looked at Loki, really looked at him, watching him look over her the recipe she had given him to work off. He had changed, gone through something she had no idea about, and while it burned her tongue, begging to be asked out loud and given life, she couldn’t bring herself to speak. 

Instead, she asked a different question, one that had also been burning her tongue, in the form of one word. It was a bitter word coming out of her mouth, it tasted like fire and infection, death and ash, but it needed to be asked. An answer was needed, an answer Yuliya wasn’t sure if she truly wanted to know. 

“Isstormur?” 

“Alive.” Loki replied without hesitation. He may not have known where he had run off too, but Loki knew he was still alive. “Somewhere in Asgard with Kol.” He smiled at her as her eyes grew large. Relief washed over her like the first flurry of snow in the winter, but the relief didn’t last long. The guilt set in quicker than she expected. The infection working its way up to her mind in small disparaging sentences. 

_ You abandoned him.  _

_ How could you take so long to ask about him?  _

_ Worthless.  _

_ Sickening thing.  _

_ You left them alone.  _

_ How could you? _

The tears came quickly and without warning, robbing Yuliya of her breath and sense of the world, blurring her vision. She would have been surprised at the gentle landing onto the floor when her knees gave out if the thoughts of death and blood rot hadn’t filled her mind to breaking. 

  
  


Any hesitation Loki had about being too close to his old lover was forgotten the moment he saw her eyes cloud over, the tears came quickly, a strangled sob escaping from her as her hand came up to grip the part of her shirt covering the  _ Wedi’i Selio _ . He wrapped his arms around her, letting her fall into his chest and drag him to the floor. 

She cried as he held her, one of her hands still gripping her own shirt while the other held tightly onto his tunic. 

Loki was at a loss for words for a moment. He had forgotten how easily she could cry, how openly she let her emotions and moods show through. It was one of the many things that had originally drawn him to her. 

They sat on the floor of Yuliya’s room for some time, Loki holding her close, whispering sweet nothings into her hairline, until her tears had stopped flowing, and the sweet nothings turned into the mumblings of a sleeping spell. 

Yuliya realized what her prince was doing a moment too late, when she tried to lift her head up off his chest to look at him and found everything in her body felt far too heavy. Her eyelids struggled to keep open, her vision blurred, she tried to say his name, but only a yawn escaped her before the room went black and silent and Yuliya fell into a deep, dreamless sleep. 

Loki picked her up off the floor with ease, carrying her close to his chest to her bedroom across the hall, laying her down under the mass of blankets she had brought with her. He stood there, looking down on her, watching her sleep. She looked peaceful, sweet, almost as innocent as when he had first met her when he was a boy. 

Brushing a few stray hairs from her face, Loki bent to kiss her cheek before tearing himself away from her bedside, knowing if he stood there any longer he wouldn’t move until she woke again. 

It wasn’t the same as it had been and never would be, the realization hurt Loki more than he understood. There was far too much pain to simply wipe away and start over, for both of them. He shook his head, shaking the thoughts from his mind for the time being, he didn’t have time to dwell on the past and how it compared to now. 

He had a varg to find and bring back and only had a finite amount of time. Loki knew, in the deepest parts of his mind that when he returned it would give them a better chance. 

Looking around the room, Loki headed to a desk against the wall, writing Yuliya a note, apologizing for spelling her and telling her he would be back in the compound in a few days. 

When he was out in the hall, Loki took a deep breath as he closed the door, before turning his face up to the ceiling. 

“FRIDAY, where is Thor currently?” 

\---

Veleif and Bucky sat panting and sweaty on the training mat, Veleif downing a bottle of water Steve had given him and Bucky laying on his back, his arms spread out to his sides, looking more like a starfish, than a soldier. 

Steve snickered and Bucky in turn flipped him the bird, making Veleif laugh heartily. It had been too long, in Veleif’s opinion, since he had been properly challenged in a physical fight. It was not only a good workout, but a proper challenge. He was exhausted and in need of a shower, but he felt far more invigarated than he had in years. 

“I don’t know about you two.” Bucky started, standing up and stretching. “But I could use a drink after that.” 

“I could go for a beer.” Veleif agreed, making his way to his feet. “Or eight.” He grinned as Steve and Bucky laughed, the three of them making their way to their own rooms to shower. Agreeing to meet up in the bar on the third floor of the compound later that evening. 

\---

Dagny had spent most of her day outside, letting Fara run wild on the property. It was very calming for her. The stress of the uncertainty of if these people were truly friends weighed heavily on her mind. 

The seemingly sudden change in the golden prince of Asgard’s opinion of them had her worried more than anything else. She had hoped for it would have come about sooner than this, before so much death, but at least it was something. 

Which is why she had sought him out once she and her mate were settled. Dagny wanted answers and she wanted to get them herself. It wasn’t too unreasonable to Thor may have been lying, but with the amount of mead he drank had her convinced he was being fairly truthful and not because he meant to. 

The conversation had been both enlightening and worrisome. The man seemed truly sorry for the attack, so sorry, in fact, it made Dagny wonder if he had something to do with it. 

Thor carried a lot of guilt on him, she could easily see that, but only some of it had anything to do with the Thylwythau. 

The breeze flowing through the trees helped clear her mind as she watched Fara stalk some small prey, she knew she would never see the carcass of. If she thought about it, truly thought about it, she knew they had made the right decision in moving them to the Avengers compound. They were far safer here than where they resided before and had access to much more information. Information they could source check, information they could count on as being real. 

Dagny let out an exasperated breath when she realized she had lost sight of Fara, although a half smile still lingered on her lips as she made herself comfortable at the base of a tree, just off the path. 

Fara would make her way back soon, Dagny knew, so she settled herself against the tree and let herself drift off into a light sleep, surrounded by nature and the sounds of the wind and the birds, reminding her of her home world. 

  
  


Hours later, that is where Velief found her, fast asleep against a large tree with Fara laying in her lap, keeping watch over her. He smiled to himself, happy his  _ Cymar _ felt safe enough to sleep out in the open again. 

Dagny had used to love to sleep outside, but he couldn’t remember her ever doing it since they had landed on Midgard. 

_ This was progress, good progress _ . He thought as he gently picked her up, carrying her into the compound, smiling lovingly down at her when she woke as they entered the elevator. 

\---

Thor was sitting on a barstool at the island, telling Natasha and Tony about his previous nights experience with Dagny. The guilt had been eating at him since the discovery and the conversation with Dagny had him feeling both relieved and worse. 

The golden prince wasn’t sure what to do now. 

“Thor!” Loki shouted as he stormed into the kitchen, cutting off his brothers guilt-ridden thoughts and words. “We need to leave for Asgard.” 

The only response he had for his brother was a confused stare, he hadn’t been up long, even though it was almost noon at this point. 

“What?” He finally asked after several seconds of Loki glaring down at him. 

“We need to leave for Asgard. Now.” Loki repeated, his annoyance already growing. 

“What? Why?” Natasha cut in before Thor could formulate a proper response, although Loki was sure it would simply be the same question he had already asked. 

“We need to retrieve Isstormur.” 

Thor choked on his coffee, nearly spitting some of it out, and looked at his brother with shock that quickly morphed into horror. 

“No.” Thor said, wiping the spittle from his chin. 

“Yes.” Loki countered. 

The brothers stared each other down, neither willing to back down from their positions. 

“And what is an Isstormur?” Tony asked, an eyebrow raised as he sipped on his espresso, leaning back on the counter across from the glaring Asgardian princes. 

“A stupid mutt.” Thor grumbled. He and Isstormur, like he and Yuliya, did not get along originally, and while Thor was willing to put in the effort with Yuliya, he had not yet forgiven Isstormur for nearly taking his leg off. 

Loki scoffed, rolling his eyes at his brothers discomfort with the beast. “He is a  _ Frost Vagr _ and Yuliya’s  _ Ffrind Enaid _ .” 

Natasha and Tony exchanged a look of brief confusion before Loki spoke again. 

“He is her familiar and will help her heal, as well as will keep her stable and in check when we find the  _ Agor _ .”

Loki needed Thor to accompany him on this. He knew he couldn’t face Odin alone and return to Midgard unscahed, or at all more than likely, and more importantly he needed time and a distraction. Thor was a perfect distraction. 

“How long?” Thor asked. 

“Three days, at the most.” 

Thor groaned, plopping his head down on the countertop with  _ bang _ . 

“We will have to tell father.” Thor said. 

“ _ You _ will need to tell father.” 

Thor’s head shot up and he squinted at his brother. Loki shrugged and the blonde Asgardian groaned as he realized why the mischief maker was even asking him to accompany him. 

Thor was the distraction for whatever the hel Loki was going to get up to.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Our regular scheduled program should be updated here on Sunday! Hopefully with more time on my hands I'll be able to give y'all more updates than just once a week. But if not, I will defiantly do my best to keep updates coming every Sunday.  
> Thanks again to everyone that is reading and leaving kudos and comments. Please let me know what y'all think. :D


	5. Bloody rooms and empty friendships.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There was a lot in this chapter that I have been looking forward to writing. I hope it all makes sense!   
> Thanks again for all the kudos! ^^

Yuliya woke with a start, jolting awake in confusion and bleary eyed as she looked around her newly acquired bedroom. She didn’t recognize the walls at first, but as her eyes began to adjust to the dim lighting and she stood, she remembered where she was.  _ Avenger’s compound. _

She couldn’t remember how she came ended up her room, the last she remembered was being in her lab- 

She was going to kill that smug little prince. Snarling she tore out of her room. “LOKI!!” She bellowed as she made her way down the hall. 

Her voice echoed in the empty hallway in a way her bare feet did not. No matter how angry she was, Yuliya was not one to stomp around, shouting on the other hand was an entirely different story. 

Her voice rang out through the hallway, curses spilling from her mouth like a waterfall, flooding the air and notifying anyone within a mile radius that she was ready for a fight and willing to cut down anyone who got in between her and the source of her righteous fury. 

Loki’s closed door was nothing but a minor inconvenience to the blood witch and she wasted no time in pushing it open, letting it hit the wall loudly, although she barely heard the resounding crunch of the metal doorknob denting the plaster. 

“High Blood!” She cursed, spinning on her heels and storming out of the room, her displeasure growing as she discovered every place she checked was just as empty as the last of her soon-to-be late lover. 

Yuliya was not one to give up easily, more likely to tear apart every room and space without a second thought. It occurred to her, as she was waiting in the elevator to take her down to the common floor, how much easier this would be with her magic. She wouldn’t have to wait in the elevator, she wouldn’t have to run around the labyrinth of hallways like some lab rat, and she wouldn’t have to shout at the top of her lungs. 

Although, she would probably still shout, her magic had never stopped her from verbally berating any and all who snapped the thin twig that was her temper. 

“Where the FUCK is that cur?!” She shouted, storming into the kitchen. 

Natasha, Tony, and Steve stared at her in bewilderment from around the coffee machine. 

“Who?” Tony asked.

“That GREEN EYED, little DEVIL SNAKE THAT THINKS HE’S THE BEST THING SINCE WARM BLOOD.”

“Whoa, what happened?” Steve asked. 

“That bastard spelled me! ME!” She snarled. “If he thinks, just because I don’t have my magic right now that he can hide from me, he is so wrong! I will RIP THAT TONGUE OUT OF HIS PRETTY LITTLE MOUTH AND START A DAMN COLLECTION.” Her voice grew louder as she threatened the room, convinced Loki was hiding only a spell away. 

The three Avenger’s stared at her, none of them quite sure what to make of the snarling ball of fury that had taken over their new friend. It was Natasha that finally informed Yuliya that Loki wasn’t just hiding. 

“He left.” 

“He did what, now?” She gaped, the wind falling from her sails slightly. 

“He and Thor went back to Asgard.” 

Yuliya stared blankly at the red head. Her temper evaporated like a pubbled of water on a Texas sidewalk in the middle of summer. The air left her lungs as quickly as it had come to fill it just seconds before and she stumbled back a few steps into the wall, steading herself. 

“He just...left?” Her voice was just barely above a whisper, a look of despondency replacing the fury. 

Steve was quick to shift into mother hen mode, approaching Yuliya like one would an injured beast. He spoke softly, letting his shoulders drop and his hands out in front of him, palms up and inviting Yuliya to take the support offered her. 

“He’ll come back. They both will.” 

She took a shaky breath. “Why did he leave?” 

Tony chirped in with that answer. “Said something about needing to retrieve a mongrel. An Isstom- Isster- Iss something or another.”

“Thor didn’t seem to be happy about that.” Natasha chuckled. 

“Isstormur! He went to find Isstormur?” Yuliya questioned, falling into Steve’s offered hands. The relief of knowing she wasn’t being abandoned was overwhelming, her knees were weak and her breathing was shaky at best, though her grip on the Captain’s hands was strong, surprising Steve. 

Surprising him even further when the relief on her face turned to horror and she unconsciously dug her nails into his wrists, making him flinch. “Yuli?” 

“He’s going to get the rest of us killed if she is still alive.” 

\---

The trip was quick, as it always was, when Thor called upon Heimdall and he and Loki were whisked away in rainbow lights, leaving Stark and Natasha standing there, wondering what would happen and how long it would actually be before the two gods made their way back. 

“Welcome home, Princes.” Heimdall’s deep voice ranged through the observatory, drawing all eyes to where he stood, towering over them. “I trust you are here for good reason.” 

Loki scoffed. “Of course we are.” 

“We have urgent news. Where is father?” Thor cut in.

Heimdall raised an eyebrow at the boys, unconvinced that an urgent event had suddenly popped up in their lives on Midgard that would require the Allfathers attention. The seer had been periodically checking in on them, afterall. He had seen no emergency. 

Loki was the first to offer a further explanation to the guardian, surprising himself as well as Thor, when he began speaking. 

“We have found four bloodwitches from the Thylwythau of Asgard on Midgard.” 

Heimdall’s eyes narrowed. “If that were true, I would have seen them.” 

“One of them is cursed with the  _ Wedi’i Selio _ .” Thor stated. 

“For all four of them to be shielded from my sight, the one cursed would have to be-” Heimdall cut himself off, realization striking him like a blow to the stomach. “A  _ Mhenadur. _ Yuliya?” 

Loki did not say anything, but the nod from Thor and the grim expression on his face told Heimdall all he needed to know. 

Nodding his acceptance, the two brothers watched as Heimdall’s eyes turned white for a brief second.

“He is in the Queen’s garden.” The gatekeeper replied as his eyes returned to normal. 

“Thank you, Heimdall.” Loki said, no hint of mockery or insult sliding from his tongue. The guardian gave the second prince a regal tilt of his head, as he and Thor quickly exited the dome and onto the rainbow bridge. 

Heimdall watched after them, unsure how to feel about this possible revelation. Loki was not known to be especially truthful, but the dark circles under his eyes and his rather straightforward answers gave the gatekeeper pause in dismissing him outright.

Loki was quick to bring up a portal for him and Thor to the steps of the palace and then two separate portals as they passed through the first one; One to Frigga’s garden and the other to just outside the city. 

Thor placed a firm hand on Loki’s shoulder. There were no words that could be comforting in what was to come. No way to know how things would go for either of them. They weren’t going to let themselves be too hopeful and with a nod, Thor and Loki stepped through their respective portals. 

\---

The terrain was a mixture of scorched grass, dead trees, and life blooming in a full circle around the death. Loki found himself standing close to the middle of the scorched earth as he came through the portal, closing it with a flourish of his fingers. 

Looking around, a mixture of amazement and harrowing sadness filling his chest. Nothing had changed since that night and Loki wondered if this part of land would ever grow back and flourish. 

Shaking his head Loki did his best to clear his mind. With a flick of fingers his boots were gone from his feet, letting him feel lifelessness beneath him and then sat down in the center of the half-mile circle of charred vegetation, crossing his legs, one over the other. Taking a deep breath he placed his hands on the charred ground, letting his fingers sink into the withered and dehydrated grass. 

He searched, sending his magic through every line of Asgard calling one name,  _ Isstormur _ . 

A pale green light emanated from the palms of Loki’s hands, slowly working its way out from his fingertips and into the dead grass, sliding across the ground until it reached the edges of death and all but disappeared into the veins of magic pulsing through Asgard. 

Thin strings of green and blue light overlapped each other, glowing faintly on the black earth, creating a kaleidoscope of colour as it started spreading, lines of magic running as far as the eye could see in any direction. Pulsing and pumping with intent, searching for one that Loki knew would bring him two. 

Loki sat stoch still, eyes closed, and let himself drift into a certain kind of darkness. 

Blood magic was dangerous to use as a seidr user, without proper training or guidance one could easily find themselves lost in the deep blood of the  _ Thyl’s _ world, but Yuliya had shone before how to walk the plain of blood. 

He had walked this place many times, both with her and after she had disappeared. It was nothing new, but it was just as terrifying as the first time. One wrong step and he might be able to find his way back. 

Shaking off the thought, Loki took a breath, and then called. 

***

_ “How do you keep track of him if he wanders without supervision?” Loki asked, looking over at the lounging blood witch.  _

_ Yuliya smiled up at the prince, her white hair pulled back from her face in the half-braid that indicated her status as Mhenadur of the Thylwythau. The rest cascading over her shoulders and down her back, pooling around her elbows on the grass, creating the image that she was laying back in the snow.  _

_ “We are connected. There is nowhere he can go that I cannot find him and vice versa.”  _

_ Loki scoffed, leaning back on one of his hands and scanned the open field, the camp was twenty yards behind them and he could faintly hear the commotion of children being taught magic and the warriors training. _

_ The two of them were sitting in an open field, Isstormur had been lounging with them until a few minutes ago when he decided that wandering into the forest forty yards ahead of them would be a better use of his time.  _

_ The varg was a giant beast, when standing he was just above eye level with Loki, looking down at the Asgardian prince. His eyes were a piercing pale blue, that reminded Loki of clear spring and matched Yuliya’s. Often making him wonder if he was missing something about her, but no matter how hard he searched, pried, and schemed he could never find a satisfactory answer. _

_ Isstormur’s fur was mostly white, with grey streaks running the length of his back and down his ribs, and pale blue tuff surround his eyes, paws, and the tips of his ears.  _

_ He was an anomaly to Loki. Never in all his years had he seen or interacted with a beast like Yuliya’s ffrind enaid. Standing far taller and bulkier than he logically should have, especially with the closeness in which he resembled a Midgardian wolf; the varg had a commanding and deathly presence that set even the hardest of einherjar on edge, but if one spent more than a few minutes in his presence it was easy to see that the intimidating, other-worldly beast was nothing more than a loving sheepherder.  _

_ “And what if you do not wish to go chasing after the mongrel?”  _

_ Yuliya laughed, light and airy and full of joy, it carried a musical note that made Loki’s heart swell with pride that he was the one to charm such a sound from his beloved. He was tempted to bend down and kiss those smiling lips, showering her with affection and stealing the sound of her voice so only he could revel in it.  _

_ “He is not the mongrel in this pair, but that is neither here nor there.” She said, her laughter fading to a chuckle as she sat up. “Take your shoes off.” She commanded as she crossed her legs, looking at Loki expectantly to follow her lead.  _

_ Loki huffed in mock annoyance, rolling his eyes, but did as she said, taking his boots off with a flick of wrist and settling himself next to her, crossing his own legs.  _

_ Yuliya smirked at the Asgardian and then placed her palms on the grass. “We dive into the magic, calling for our loved and bonded ones.”  _

_ As she spoke Loki watched in awe as deep blue lines of magic eked out of her finger tips, traveling through the grass and spreading quickly in all directions. He could feel the humm of blood magic meeting seidr, flowing into and through each other seamlessly. Weaving an entirely new world that Loki had only read about.  _

_ The colour of the world around them faded to a deep, bloody red. Washing away any and all landmarks until all that was left was endless burgundy fading into black the longer you looked. The only colour remaining from Asgard were the lines of magic emanating from Yuliya, glowing and pulsing, creating an ominous glow throughout everything.  _

_ Even Yuliya herself was coloured in shades of red. Her hair and skin glowed red, painting her as if she had just emerged from a lake of blood. Her dress, normally a vibrant lavender, was now a deep maroon, shaded in burgundy and black.  _

_ When she looked at him, Loki’s breath caught, the whites of her eyes were now a pale pink, but the irises still shone blue; a deeper, more vibrant blue, more akin to the royal blue Frigga would wear than the pale ice they normally were.  _

_ She was beautiful in this world, in her power, terrifying and other-worldly and Loki found himself wholly enveloped in reverence for the woman. Convinced in this moment, above all before and any after it, that this was the woman that he was going to marry. Now he just had to convince her.  _

_ “Call him.” When she spoke it was barely a whisper, but Loki heard it as if she shouted it, echoing through his mind and reverberating through it whole body. Sending chills of pleasure and abstract horror down his spine in a way that could never be separated nor fully understood by the second prince.  _

_ “Call him to you, Lo.” She said again, knocking Loki out of his stupor.  _

_ Taking a shaking breath and forcing his eyes away, Loki opened his mouth, calling the varg home.  _

_ “Issortmur.” His voice trailed out neither as a shout nor as a whisper, but something entirely else that he didn’t quite recognize, and carried over the empty landscape. The beast's name had only just finished making its way from Loki when he was answered.  _

_ A loud, piercing howl resounded through the world, far higher pitched than any animal should be able to make, save certain birds.  _

_ In a moment the varg was in front of the pair, staring them down with a look that Loki could only decipher part of, annoyance. His fur, normally such a pristine white in majority, was now also awash in reds, scarlett, mahogany, and salmon painted the wolf-like beast. He looked far larger and far more ferocious than Loki had ever seen him and it struck the young prince how little he truly knew or understood about the creature and it’s master.  _

_ The way Isstormur’s fur ruffled and swayed in a wind that wasn’t present made it appear as if he was bleeding out his fur and skin. It was terrifying and beautiful and Loki couldn’t help himself when one of his hands reached up to stroke the varg’s neck.  _

_ As soon as Loki’s fingers made contact with red fluff on Isstormur’s neck the red bled away, out of everything. Isstormur’s fur returned to it’s normal white, grey, and pale blue. Yuliya’s dress returned to a light lavender, her eyes back to a pale blue, her hair white, and her skin a pale cream.  _

_ The world around the three returned to the lush, vibrant colours and sounds of the field and forest around the camp in an instant. Any and all evidence of the bleeding world in between realms completely gone.  _

_ Loki breathed in the air of Asgard deeply, relishing in the multitude of scents and sounds and objects he could now see and feel. He jumped when Yuliya placed a hand on his arm, but the smile on her face and the gentle squeeze of her fingers, helped to bring his pulse down to normal. He would have laughed at her startling him so easily if he had had any air left in his lungs at the moment.  _

_ Yuliya moved herself closer, intertwining her fingers with his while Isstormur laid himself behind the two, creating a protection against anyone who might come up from behind. They sat there in silence for a few minutes before Loki finally regained his voice.  _

_ “Will you teach me?”  _

_ “What do you think this just was?”  _

_ Loki laughed, shaking his head in disbelief. “You’re a terrible teacher.”  _

_ Yuliya planted a kiss on his cheek, before setting her head back on his shoulder. “You’ll pick it up eventually.”  _

_ ***  _

\---

After Steve was finally able to calm Yuliya down from the building panic attack, she sat at the small kitchen table with him, Tony, and Natasha, a mug of hot coffee between her hands, answering the questions of  _ why  _ she frightened and  _ who was _ that frightened her so. 

“She was one of the first friends I made after coming to Asgard. She would visit me in the healing wing while I recovered, asking all sorts of questions. She was so curious about us.” 

“Recovered?” Natasha asked. 

Yuliya nodded, taking a sip of her coffee. “That’s a different, longer story, for another time.” 

Natasha hummed her understanding and disapproval, but otherwise didn’t pry. 

“Anyway,” Yuliya continued, “We became good friends, she’s actually the reason Loki and I ended up so close. I wouldn’t have given the prince a chance if she hadn’t been so adamant that he wasn’t anything like Thor.” 

She sighed, staring into the mug of black liquid, losing herself in the memory of time she thought to be simpler, easier, but knew were just false promises and empty friendships. 

“I didn’t realize how awful she truly was until it was too late. Looking back, there were signs. The way she would manipulate Loki, the strings she attached to any she could sink her claws into, myself included, pulling them from the background to work her way up in the court. 

She was sneaky, malevolent, and resentful. She let her lust for power overrun and ruined everything about her that was once good and decent. My father warned me to be careful of those in the Allfathers court, for they groom their children to take their places and rise higher than they could,by any means necessary, but I never thought he could have been talking about her. I suppose she was just a marvelous actor.” 

Yuliya shrugged and leaned back in her chair, taking her mug with her to cradle against her chest. 

“And now they’re all dead and I’m dying and can’t even properly finish training Brandr. And for what? I still haven’t a clue, no matter how hard I rack my brain.” 

The table was silent as Steve, Nat, and Tony absorbed what Yuliya had just told them. The sadness and betrayal in voice, the utter defeat that laced her body as she spoke was something they were all familiar with, in one way or another. 

Finally Natasha spoke again. “You think she’s still alive? Didn’t Thor say they caught everyone who had attacked you?” 

“Yes, but I have my doubts that she was caught. She fooled us all for centuries.” 

Natasha nodded in understanding. 

“I am the only one here who wants to know who this chick is?” Tony quipped, shooting Yuliya an annoyed look. 

“Oh!” Yuliya laughed, not having realized she hadn’t spoken her name out loud yet. She had known the woman for so long, it didn’t occur to her that other people wouldn’t know immediately. 

“Her name is Sigyn.” 

\---

“Father.” Thor’s voice was serious, his face grim as he approached Odin, who was sitting on a stone bench, surrounded by the flowers, and trees, and vegetation from many different realms he had watched his mother cultivate and care for his entire life. 

Odin had been doing his best to keep it up after Frigga’s death, but there was a deep sense of loss throughout the garden, that Thor knew would never fully leave. It was no longer filled with her laughter, or her words of wisdom, or her silence, when she would simply sit Thor down and listen as he told her about everything under the sun that came to his mind. 

Odin turned to look at his oldest son. “Thor. I was not expecting you back so soon.” 

The weary look in the Allfather’s eye had Thor moving swiftly across the garden. “Yes, well there has been a…” Thor paused and took a seat next to Odin, his elbows planting themselves on his knees, and let out a heavy sigh. “A rather disturbing development on Midgard.” 

Odin hummed his curiosity, but did not speak. 

Thor was not quite sure how to phrase his and Loki’s discovery of Yuliya and the three other blood witches. Everyone had been so certain for so long that no one survived it was hard to realize their mistake. 

And now, as Thor searched for the right words, he realized he could no longer be certain that those who had perpetrated the attack had all been caught and prosecuted. 

Taking a deep breath, he ran his palms over his thighs. “We have found three blood witches from the Thylwythau of Asgard on Midgard.” 

“Are you certain?” Odin asked, his body stiffening as he looked at Thor. 

“Yes.  _ Mhenadur _ Yuliya, two of her  _ Cyngor _ , and her  _ Mhrentis _ survived. Yuliya is cursed with the  _ Wedi’i Selio _ .” 

“Which would explain why Heimdall could not find them, even when-” Odin cut himself off, unwilling to fully entertain the idea that the madness his second son had suffered through could have been prevented had he taken the time to believe him. 

“Yes. They are with the Avengers now. We are looking for the  _ Agor. _ ” 

Odin stood from the bench and began the short walk back to the palace, Thor rising with him and following at his side. 

“Father, there is something that worries me about this discovery.” Thor said. 

“And what is that?” Odin grunted, he had an inkling of what Thor was worried about. 

“If Yuliya and three of hers have been alive all this time, are we sure we found everyone responsible for the attack?” 

\---

“I saw we do a movie night!” Brandr exclaimed, hopping around the kitchen as Yuliya stirred the pasta simmering on the stove. 

“Sure.” Yuliya laughed, the angering events of the morning long since passed from her mind. Her, Brandr, and Bucky had the compound to themselves for the next few days and she was looking forward to spending the time not thinking about what  _ might _ be happening on Asgard. 

“That smells amazing.” Bucky said as he made his way into the kitchen, setting a couple grocery bags on the island counter. “What are you making, doll?” 

“Creamy pesto chicken pasta!” Yuliya grinned at the metal armed soldier. “What do you got there?” 

Bucky grinned at the two witches looking at him curiously, his eyes lingering on the  _ Mhrif _ in training, and pulled out three six-packs of Yuengling Traditional Lager. “Steve and I used to grab a pint before the war. I thought since you guys had shared your favorites with me, it was the least I could do.” As he spoke, he pulled three glass bottles from one pack, popped the tops off and handed one to Yuliya and one to Brandr. 

They both took the offered drink with enthusiasm, happily cheersing the former Winter Soldier and taking a swig. 

“That’s not bad.” Yuliya smiled as she turned back around to stir the simmering food one more time before turning the stove off. “Brandr grab plates will you?” 

Brandr was quick to glide around Yuliya and Bucky in flourish to find and secure himself three plates, presenting one to Bucky, one to Yuliya, and keeping one for himself, obviously. 

“I say we watch  _ Brave _ .” Yuliya said after they had all eaten and she watched the two men clean up. 

“Is that the animated one with Scottish girl?” Brandr asked, trying the last of the silverware and dropping them in the drawer they lived.

“Yeah!” Yuliya exclaimed. “The music sounded good in the trailer!” 

Bucky and Brandr laughed at her enthusiasm for a movie based on it’s music, although it didn’t come as a surprise to either one of them at this point. 

\---

The three of them hadn’t gotten more than ten minutes into the movie before the lights in the common room and surrounding rooms and hallway suddenly shut off. None of them moved at first, assuming maybe it was another power outage made by one of Starks projects in his lab, but when the emergency lights didn’t come on and FRIDAY didn’t reassure them over the speakers in the room. They all grew tense. 

Bucky was the first to move, placing a finger to his lips and sliding off the couch with graceful ease. Crouching low, he surveyed the room before slowly making his way to the doorway to the hallway. He could hear footsteps coming from the stairwell at the end of the hallway. 

There was no way to tell who it was, and while Bucky thought there were probably about ten based on what he heard, there was to tell for sure until he saw them. 

Yuliya padded up beside Bucky. “Are we about to get fucked?” She whispered, peeking her head around the doorway. Her heart dropped into her stomach as the door to the stairwell opened and a man she recognized, all too well stepped through. 

He wasn’t a bulking man, by any means, but he had a presence that commanded respect and fear. His brown hair was cut short against his head, styled to perfection. His brown eyes glared at everything he looked at, a scowl near permanently adorning his face. 

He was a few inches shorter than Yuliya herself, but his animosity and rage toward everyone had made him feel taller to those around him, more than making up for smaller stature. 

“We have to go.” Yuliya whispered to Bucky, placing a hand on his arm. He didn’t say anything, but nodded and followed her back to the couch Brandr was still sitting on. 

“Axelson.” Yuliya whispered before Brandr could ask. His eyes went wide with fear and his body stiffened. 

“Ah, there you are.” A cold voice sang out. All eyes turned toward the door as the man, Axelson, strode in, eight other agents close behind. 

A shiver of fear ran down Yuliya’s spine and she instinctively reached for her magic, when she found nothing but pain shooting through her veins, she recoiled. Her fear intensified, chasing the fiery pain from her veins and replacing it with ice. 

Looking from Brandr to the man, Yuliya realized he wasn’t looking at either of them, his eyes honed onto Bucky and Bucky alone. Looking at the other men standing behind them, it was as if none of them saw her or Brandr. That should have worried Yuliya more than it did, but all she could think of was getting Brandr, the scholar and memory keeper of the  _ Thylwythau _ , her friend, her  _ Mhrentis _ , out of harm's way and somewhere safe. 

_ But this place was supposed to have been safe. _

Yuliya tapped Brandr’s leg, gaining his attention and did her best to communicate how she wanted him to leave. Brandr began moving slowly off the couch, his limbs shaky, but not completely immobile. 

They hadn’t made halfway to the door on the other side of the room when the screaming started. Neither he nor Yuliya were aware when Axelson began talking, too absorbed in trying to get out of the way as Bucky fought off the HYDRA agents. 

But when they stopped, their blood turned to ice in their veins at a sound they were both far too familiar with, the sound of agonizing pain and heartbreak, the sound your souls makes as someone tried to rip it from your body. Yuliya had sounded very similar the night they landed on Midgard. 

They turned in time to see Bucky stand, his back to them. He was breathing heavily, two agents already laying by his feet, his shoulders slumped in a way they didn't recognize. 

“Soldat.” Axelson mused, his eyes finally making their way over to Yuliya and Brandr, they shone with malicious glee as he locked onto Yuliya’s blue eyes. A smile crept along his face, wide and toothy and sadistic. 

“Kill them.” 

\---

Bucky slowly turned, assessing the two that now stood in front of him. Yuliya had pulled Brandr behind her when Axelson had finally looked their way and now she realized that was probably a mistake. Her right hand, which held Brandr’s arm tightly, loosened and pushed him farther back urging him to run, while he left hand came to cover the  _ Wedi’i Selio _ protectively. 

Brandr didn’t waste time when Yuliya let go of his hand, he bolted to the closest exit. He knew he was of no use in this situation. He wasn’t a warrior and while he was ok with a sword and decent in the boxing ring, he couldn’t hold his own against trained agents and former assassins. He would be dead within seconds and with his death would go every memory, tradition, song, and piece of knowledge about his people. 

He was the scholar, the memory keeper, without all of his magic he would only get in the way. Well, he had often gotten in the way even with all of his magic. 

If Yuliya died it would be hard, harrowing, anguishing even, but they could recover. If Brandr died there would be nothing left to recover. 

  
  


“Bucky?” Yuliya asked, a slight tremble in her voice. The eyes boring into her were not the ones of her friend. They were empty, cold, calculated, set upon doing one job and one job alone. 

He charged and Yuliya screamed, scrabbling to get away as her friend grabbed the back of her shirt, throwing her across the room. She hit the wall hard, knocking the air out her lungs and dazing her slightly. 

“Fuuuuck..” She groaned, clamoring to her feet as Bucky- well, really the Winter Soldier- charged again. Moving out of the way just in time to see his metal arm fly by her face and into the wall. 

Any colour left in the witch drained as she heard the crack of drywall breaking beneath his first. The whirly sound of his arm calibrating as he tore it out of the wall, followed Yuliya as she ran past two of the agents. They tried to stop her and found themselves on the floor of the common room for their troubles. One groaned in pain as he cupped his balls and the other unconscious, or maybe dead, from the punch she had thrown into his Adam's apple. 

Under normal circumstances Yuliya had a tendency to fight fair, to fight with honour. Standing to face her opponent with all the bravado and fanfare that her status as  _ Mhenadur _ gave her. But these were not normal circumstances. She was effectively alone in this, no magic, no weapon, just her bare feet running from the only other person in the building that she had considered an ally. 

She was fucked. Gravely, severely  _ fucked. _

Yuliya had absolutely no idea where she was going as she ran up the stairs, she could hear her friend turned enemy following her up. His footsteps weren’t loud, but they weren’t the quiet sneaky steps of a cat and mouse game, either. 

This was a full on hunt and she was the prey. That thought alone scared and enraged her as she ran. 

And then she didn’t hear anymore footsteps, she froze and against her better judgement, Yuliya stopped and turned. Gasping for breath, she didn’t see the Winter Soldier following her up. She whirled around again, expecting him to somehow be behind her on the platform to the next floor she hadn’t quite reached. 

But he wasn’t. 

And then the gunshot went off. It would have been a perfect hit, straight through her heart, if she hadn’t jumped at the sound. Instead it glanced off the only form of protection she still had. The rim of the  _ Wedi’i Selio _ bent, just ever so slightly, with the bullet as it cut across her shoulder, leaving a deep and weeping gash. The stone inside cracked against the force and Yuliya screamed, blood curdling and trauma filled. 

The pain of her new found wound was muted in light of the blistering fire that shot through her veins. It lit her skin on fire as she fell to the stairs, holding her arm close to her chest. The cool of the concrete gave no relief when she landed. 

Hours. It felt like  _ hours _ that she had been laying there, her breath coming in short, quick gasps as she tried to wrap her mind around what the  _ fuck  _ just happened and get her body back under control. The gash in her shoulder continued to bleed, staining the tips of her white hair crimson, and dripping down the steps. 

_ Ymir’s bloody balls, she was  _ **_not_ ** _ dying like this. She had just found Loki again. Things were actually starting to look up. Her and Thor were becoming  _ **_friends_ ** _ , for High Bloods sake! _

And then she heard the footsteps. He was coming up the stairs to finish her off.  _ She knew it _ . Pushing through the pain, Yuliya began crawling up the stairs, her left arm almost completely numb, but she still put as much weight on as she could. 

She didn’t make it past two steps before the Winter Soldier was hauling her up by her hair. She screamed again as he righted her, the pain exploding inside her all over again as her back hit the wall and metal fingers came to close tightly around her neck. 

Her hands gripped his arm, trying to pry him off, smearing her blood all along his forearm. It was futile, she knew. Seeing through the pain was nearly impossible, her vision swam in hazy colours as black began creeping at its edges. 

If this was really going to be her end, then she had nothing left to lose, she realized. If she could handle one more burst of pain, she could take this threat down with her and Brandr and the rest would be safe. 

Yuliya glared up at the man she had considered a friend before. Nothing in his eyes or his demeanor showed any traces of the man she knew before. Gritting her teeth for the oncoming pain that always graced her limbs and insides, she reached for her magic. 

Tightening the grip of her right hand on his wrist, Yuliya slammed her left palm into the Winter Soldier’s shoulder, and screamed as her magic flowed through her. It ripped through her skin, like thin bloody whips, charging at the metal that had wrapped itself around the man's shoulder, burrowing itself in until it could rip metal from flesh. 

Whether it was because of the injury to her shoulder and the free flowing blood or the now damaged curse in her heart, the pain of using her magic didn’t cause her blood to turn to rot and sickness this time. At least not that she noticed. 

She stared with raging glee as she pulled one short scream of agony out of him before he collapsed in shock, falling down the few steps to the platform below. The metal arm he so graciously left her now, hanging in limpy in her right hand. 

Standing there, on the steps of the stairwell, staring down at Bucky turned Winter Soldier, she felt alive, for the first time in years, truly, deeply,  _ madly alive _ . Power and magic soared through her veins in raging, vengeful whisps. 

_ She could conquer worlds again with how she was feeling now! Helheim! She could rule Asgard with this power! Take vengeance for her kin that had perished at the hands of bigots and classists. Bleed every person who so much as thought she was an abomination, dry! _

_She would_ ** _kill_** **_every last one_** _who had dared to touch her and what belonged to her!_

Yuliya had no idea the picture she painted for the semi-conscious Bucky as she made her way to him. The laughter that bubbled out of her like some mad-scientist creating new life. The way her hair lifted and flowed around her with excess magic she now had access to, making herself appear almost like Medusa. The blood that stained the ends of that hair didn’t help alleviate that image. 

The black, inky veins that began spreading up her neck, across her chest, and down her arms. The blood dripped freely from her injured shoulder and down her arm. The original bullet hole in her shirt having ripped even further in the scuffle that had ensued after he had grabbed her and slammed her against the wall, showing off the gnarly gash and the dented  _ Wedi’i Selio _ . 

The metal arm that she held in her other hand, coated in fresh handprints of blood. The murderous rage that lived and danced in her eyes as they began turning a gleaming scarlett. The soft blue colour that was beginning to paint her skin, following the veins of infection from her chest. 

He was certain he was seeing some kind of demon being unleashed and, in a way, he was right. 

Bucky groaned as he tried to move, he could see her lips moving, but the words were muffled in his ears. His eyes couldn’t fully focus, but when she bent down, taking him by the collar of the shirt and lifting his torso from the floor so they were nose to nose, he finally recognized her. 

“Yuliya?” 

\---

Brandr had gotten to Tony’s lab before the HYDRA agents had caught up to him. He had no idea where Tony might have kept a backup generator or anything that would have been useful as a weapon for the scholar, but didn’t stop him from searching. 

What did stop him from searching, however, was the sudden searing pain in his veins, hitting him so suddenly and so hard it knocked him flat on his back, leaving him gasping for air like a fish out of water. 

When he regained his breath and was able to sit up, Brandr noticed two things; the first was that he could feel his magic much more potently than he had been able to before, and the second was that he was no longer alone in the room. 

His mind whirled at all the possibilities of  _ what _ happened to give him more access to his magic. He didn’t have it all, he could feel the emptiness if he reached too deep, but he had more than the simple see-through illusions of earlier today. The  _ Wedi’i Selio _ hadn’t been fully removed, but  _ something _ had happened and he silently prayed to the High Bloods that it hadn’t been Yuliya’s death. 

Looking around the room from his position under one of Tony’s tables, Brandr realized the agents, three that he counted, didn't know where he was or if he was even in the room. Their steps were careful, calculated, and quiet. 

He could feel the extra magic buzzing in his veins, begging, pleading,  _ imploring _ to be let loose on the intruders. It was need, pure and desperate need that set Brandr sprinting from his crouched position under one of the tables and directly into one of the HYDRA agents. Letting his feet follow the pounding of his blood in his ears as he tackled the man, quickly pulling his fist back and repeatedly slamming it into his nose. 

Blood gushed from the mans face and Brandr pulled as much from him as he could, summoning the already spilling blood to follow his will, forming what he could gather into sharp, hard needles he sent them flying into the necks of the other two agents. They dropped where they stood. 

He did the same to the man he was on top of. 

Looking around the room Brandr forced himself to stand on shaky legs and ignore the lives he just took. He could mourn them after he made sure his  _ Mhenadur _ was alive and safe. 

\---

As Tony and Steve expected the HYDRA facility was abandoned. Dusty and dingy it looked like no had been there in years. It didn’t take the team long to come through the building, finding quite a few rooms with leftover pieces of lab equipment and discarded experiments and computers. 

Surprisingly, there was still some power left in the building when Natasha went to turn on the only computer they had found that hadn’t been dismantled. 

“I’m surprised this is even turning on.” She mumbled as she stuck a thumb drive into the tower. It was doubtful that there would be any useful information on it, if any at all, but the Black Widow always made sure to cover all her bases. 

As Nat was getting what she could off the drive, Steve was patrolling the edge of the room with Veleif. If there was any kind of secret passageway, they would find it, and Steve was fairly confident that was one. It  _ was _ a HYDRA base after all. 

Tony and Dagny were doing the same in an adjacent room, Fara following them closely, ears perked and muscles taught as she kept an eye on her  _ ffrind enaid _ . 

“Nothing in this room.” Tony said into the comms when he and Dagny threw up their hands in exasperation. Picking through the scattered debris and inspecting the walls and floors, they truly hadn’t found anything out of the ordinary. Well, at least out of the ordinary for a HYDRA lab. 

“Clear in here.” Steve’s voice came through comms. 

Tony groaned. These had been the last two rooms in their search and they were coming up completely empty handed. 

“Tell me you got something useful, Nat?” Tony grumbled as he and Dagny made their way to meet up with the others. 

“Nothing we don’t already know.” She sighed, her fingers drumming along the table. “I’m grabbing everything just in case.” 

“Boss, I believe there’s a problem.” FRIDAY’s voice rang through Stark’s helmet. 

“What? The absolute boredom of this mission?” Tony snarked. 

“I have been cut off from the compound. It seems all power has gone out and I cannot seem to gain access to restart.” The Irish A.I. said. 

“That’s not possible.” He blanched as he began rattling off the different protocols for FRIDAY to do, she shot down everyone. She had tried them all. 

Dagny looked at Tony curiousy, an eyebrow raised in question at what  _ ‘wasn’t possible’ _ . Tony ignored her as he turned to the Captain. 

“Cap, we have a --” 

His words were cut off by the shrieks that erupted from Dagny and Veleif. Dagny fell to the floor holding her stomach and gasping for air, while Veleif fell to his knees, grasping his head. A bolt of power rushing through each of them and then out, knocking Steve, Tony, and Natasha on their asses. 

Groans escaped the Avengers as they righted themselves one by one. Looking around the room nothing was particularly damaged, the few tables and chairs in the room had been knocked over or blown a few feet away from their original position if they had something heavy on them. 

A strangled whimper came from Veleif as he forced himself to his feet, dashing to Dagny as she cried out his name. Pain and sorrow lacing every sound she made as she curled into a ball on the cold floor. Veleif was quick to pull her into his arms, speaking softly into her hairline as she cried. 

Natasha, Tony, and Steve stood around the two, unsure what just happened and how to now help. 

“Something is wrong with Yuliya.” Veleif finally said, when Dagny’s wails of pain started to subside. 

“What just happened?” Nat asked, helping Veleif and Dagny to their feet. Dagny looked far worse than Veleif. Her eyes clouded with pain and fear, her breathing still coming in ragged as she held onto Veleif’s forearms, her nails sinking into his skin without a second thought. Veleif gently pried her fingers from his arms before scooping her up in his arms and holding her close. She nuzzled her face into the crook of his neck, breathing in his scent as she wrapped an arm around his neck. 

“It is harder for a healer.” The dark skinned man said, looking down at his mate with concern. Although it had only been about a minute since they were knocked off their feet, Dagny looked like she hadn’t slept or eaten in days. 

“We need to get back to the compound.” Tony said, turning all eyes to him. “FRIDAY’s been locked out. Something’s going down. 

The five of them were quick to retreat to the quinjet, Fara letting out worried mewls as she ran beside Veleif. Natasha and Tony took to the cockpit, getting the quinjet up and running in record time. It only took a couple hours to get back to the compound as opposed to the half a day it took them to get to the HYDRA base. 

Dagny was better by the time they landed, she didn’t look so hollow and she could carry a conversation now, but there was still pain in her eyes and a stiffness in her body as they all moved carefully through the compound. 

Tony wasted no time in resetting FRIDAY and getting the lights and power back on. When the group made their way to the common floor after FRIDAY had informed them that there were still people there, they were shocked by what they encountered. 

Bodies littered the floor of the hallway, all dressed in HYDRA uniforms, none of them breathing. Most of them lying in positions that no human body should ever be contorted into. Slowly, they crept down the hall towards the sound of grunting and dull thuds. 

The common room was an absolute mess, lamps shattered on the floor, the coffee table had been broken into thirds, the couches and chairs had been nearly torn to pieces and lay upturned and definitely  _ not _ where Tony had originally put them. Four more HYDRA agent bodies laid on the floor, three of them obviously dead. The fourth however lay prone on the floor, right by the wall the common room shared with the kitchen, moaning and groaning in distress. 

“Will you SHUT UP!” Yuliya shouted at Axelson, drawing everyone’s attention to her across the room. A collective gasp drew her attention away from the injured, and more than likely dying, man to the Avenger’s who now entered the room. 

It was Dagny that approached her first, eyes wide as she took in her  _ Mhenadur _ altered appearance. Black horns adorned Yuliya’s head, growing from her hairline in slim columns that vaguely followed the curve of her head, ending in points just past her skull. Her skin was only blue where the infection was, but it was a vibrant blue, following the inky veins of blood rot to cover her left arm completely, most of her neck and chest, and a quarter of her face, stopping just below her left eye, but never reaching her nose. 

Her clothes were bloodied and torn in places, showing off other portions of her body that the infection had spread to, down her chest and ending at her waist line, Dagny guessed, since the tears in her jeans at her thighs didn’t show anything but her normal creamy skin. 

The  _ Wedi’i Selio _ was on display for all of them to see and was a gruesome sight to behold as the blood witch stalked her way over to them. The crack in the jewel and the dent in the setting were now oozing black, the salmon of the jewel had turned a hateful, deep red and the gold setting was nearly covered in the black ooze, except for a small potion right at the top. 

“Yuliya?” Dagny’s voice was a whisper, filled with sorrow and horror as Yuliya stared down at her, eyes narrowed to crimson slits. Blood covered her mouth and dripped down her neck, although it looked to be drying already by the way it cracked around her lips when she spoke. 

“Help Bradnr.” Her voice was gravelly and raw, filled with anguish and rage, but calm as she spoke to her  _ Cyngor _ . 

Dagny nodded before moving past her to where Yuliya pointed, where she had originally been standing. 

Yuliya looked over the remaining three people who had ventured into her bloody territory. Veleif stood at attention, waiting for her to give him something to do. The other two, she couldn’t remember their names at the moment, but recognized them and understood they weren’t a threat to her and kin. 

She let her shoulders relax a bit as she pointed to the bloody mess of a man still whimpering by the wall. “Axelson. Healing room. Chain him.” She couldn’t seem to form full sentences, but Veleif got the gist. Giving her a curt nod, he hauled the broken man up and over her shoulder, ignoring the cries of pain as he did so. 

“I could use help from one of you.” Veleif said as he started walking toward the doorway. “Whichever one of you has some kind of medical knowledge.” He didn’t wait to see who followed him out to the hallway and to the elevators, but was pleased when Stark came rush up beside him, talking on the phone to someone named ‘ _ Cho’ _ . 

  
  


Brandr was sitting on the floor, Bucky’s head in his lap, his fingers delicately running themselves through the shaggy main, looking down at the sleeping man with sadness in his normally happy eyes, when Dagny sat next to him. 

“What happened?” She quietly asked, pulling up her blood in the palms of her hands, before casting it over Bucky’s body. It floated just above him, maybe half an inch, as she called what magic she could to examine his wounds. 

A light pink, see through version of Bucky, formed over the sleeping original, highlighting in deep crimson the areas of his body that had been injured. Dagny wasted no time in getting to work on what she could heal. 

It didn’t take long, most of his wounds were superficial, some bruising here, a few small cuts there. 

“HYDRA. Axelson did-” Brandr sniffed, trying to keep his voice even as he could as the tears began welling up. “Axelson did something,  _ said _ something.” He looked up as he heard footsteps approach and met Steve’s wide, uncertain, and scared eyes. 

“I thought you said they couldn’t do that anymore.” 

Steve didn’t have any answers for the young blood witch. He shook his head in disbelief, giving a defeated shrug as his baby blue’s moved to look at his best friend. Clothes torn and missing an arm, Dagny had made quick work of his injuries, but there was nothing she could do about the arm, it wasn’t biological. It was metal. 

Steve consoled himself with the fact that the expression on his friends unconscious face was at least one of peace. He hadn’t seen Bucky look that peaceful when he slept in-- well, years. Even after Wakanda, he still had nightmares most of the time and while he never woke up as the Winter Soldier, it still wasn’t easy for him. 

Yuliya came to stand beside Steve as Dagny rose and made her way to her. Yuliya’s eyes were still crimson, but the look in them was no longer one of apprehension and anger. She looked weary, uncontrolled, and almost sad as she stared at the man laying in her protege’s lap. 

Dagny lifted her hand when she was beside Yuliya, touching her palm to her  _ Mhrif’s _ forehead, careful not to make contact with her horns. Almost instantly Yuliya’s body sagged and nearly crumpled to the floor, if hadn’t been for Steve’s quick reflexes the blood witch would have easily ended up with another few injuries from all the glass and broken furniture on the floor. 

“Can you help me get her to a healing room?” Dagny asked, fatigue lacing her voice. “And then we can move Bucky.” 

Steve nodded, picking up Yuliya and following the caramel skinned woman out. 


	6. Home is who your heart belongs to.

Isstormur wasn’t answering his call and it set Loki on edge with how long he’d been staring at the bleeding, unending walls of this place. It shouldn’t have surprised him, not really. Issortmur had stopped answering his calls when he disappeared, this should time would be no different he realized. 

He was ready to give up and fade back into Asgard’s reality when the thought struck him.  _ Isstormur doesn’t know Yuliya had been found. _

Gritting his teeth, Loki breathed deeply and let his voice shout through the empty plain. “Yuliya has been found on Midgard!” 

His words echoed through the desolate landscape as his tenuous, seidr hold on the world wavered. He was spending too long in this realm, if he didn’t leave soon he would likely never return to Asgard and, more importantly, to Yuliya. 

He was almost ready to give up, fortifying himself to leave without success and begin diving into other ways to find the varg when the beast appeared, sniffing at Loki’s face. 

Isstormur looked weary, his fur, although not his normal colours, still looked matted and dirty in the red colouring. He was skinnier than the last time Loki had seen him and his eyes spoke volumes of the pain the beast had endured during his solitude. 

Loki thought he might cry from relief as he grasped Isstormur’s fur and the world of Asgard came back with a whooshing sound that made his ears ring. He gulped down air as if he just resurfaced from being dragged underwater. 

_ Yes, he had stayed far too long in that world. _

Isstormur laid down in front of Loki, resting his head in the gods lap as he regained his semblance of self and composed himself. Whether Loki had noticed Thor standing at the edge of the scorched terrain, Isstormur did not know, but he chose to ignore the golden fool, instead focusing on making sure his one connection back to his  _ ffrind enaid _ was recovered enough to escort him there. 

When Loki’s breathing evened out and he felt his equilibrium was adjusted to the solid world again, Loki stood and found Thor watching him, Isstormur moving to accompany him. 

“Brother.” Thor greeted as the two made their way. His expression was somber, not what Loki had been expecting. 

He assumed Thor would revel in the chance to tell Odin how he had found what Loki never could. His eyes narrowed at his brother, suspicions rising as he drew closer. Thor stood just a few feet away from the dead land, Loki could feel something was not right, his gut turned with anxiety, and refused to step over the line that separated the living from the dead. 

“Brother.” Loki greeted coolly, his left hand coming to rest on Isstormur’s neck, his fingers threading themselves through the varg’s fur and gripping tight, readying himself to spring onto the beasts back if need be. 

“I was beginning to wonder if you would ever come back to us.” 

“How long?” 

“Two days.” 

Loki inhaled sharply, looking at his brother in surprise. He couldn’t fathom being gone that long in that accursed world, let alone the idea that Thor simply watched and waited. 

“And if I hadn’t come back?” He asked. 

Thor shrugged, a half smile on his face. “I would’ve dragged you away on the third day.” 

Loki barked a laugh, not at all surprised by that answer. 

“Heimdall caught a glimpse of her.” Thor said suddenly, his features turning back to the somber ones Loki had first seen. 

“What?” 

“Something has happened, though I do not know what. He said she was feral, enraged, her magic peaked for just a moment before she disappeared again.” 

Loki stared at his brother, his fingers gripping Isstormur’s fur tightly. He felt something brush against his thighs and looked down. He might have been surprised when he saw burgundy eyes looking up at him, but his mind was too full of shifting through all the possibilities of  _ why _ and  _ especially how _ Yuliya showed up on Heimdall’s radar. 

The wolverine like creature looked up at Loki and Isstormur, concern swirling in its beady eyes. Loki absently stroked his head with his free hand, giving the creature some semblance of calm, as he turned to look at Thor again. 

The look on the golden son’s face was grim and slightly disturbed, whether that was from the news of something going wrong on Midgard or the presence of two very dangerous animals, Loki couldn’t be sure. 

Drawing up a portal to the observatory, both men and the animals wasted no time in shuffling through it and into Heimdall’s presence. 

Within moments, the four of them were flying through the Bifrost and landing on the grassy lawn of the Avengers compound. The sun to the west, barely illuminating the grounds as it sunk further and further away from the day and chill of night caming swooping in. 

Loki didn’t notice it, the way to wind bit into his and Thor’s skin as they walked into the compound. He did however notice the all encompassing silence when they made their way into the building. No one was on the ground floor, which wasn’t too abnormal given the time of evening it was, but more often than not there were still a few office workers milling about and finishing up for the day at this time. 

Taking the stairs up to the common floor was the first thing Loki did, Isstormur and Kol following closely behind him, Thor bringing up the rear. All of them on edge and ready for anything that might jump out at them, but nothing did. 

The lumbering steps of the varg were the only sound echoing through the stairwell. 

The common room was empty, but in complete disarray. Broken furniture and glass shards littered the room and hallway, blood stains painted the floors and splatters painted the walls. It was like the aftermath of a horror movie set. 

“Thor? Loki?” Natasha’s voice flows from behind the brothers, quiet and reserved. They both turn. Isstormur moves, placing his body in front of Loki and Thor, a low growl emanating from his throat as he looks the red headed intruder over with suspicion. Natasha instinctively takes a half step back from the giant wolf-like creature baring its teeth at her. 

“Isstormur.” Loki calls his name quietly, sternly and the beast backs away from the newcomer, moving his head to dip under Loki’s outstretched hand. His voice is cold and venomous when he speaks to Natasha. Looking at her through narrowed eyes slowly taking on a crimson colour that reminded Natasha of what she first saw when they all arrived back at the compound the night before. 

“Where is she?” 

\---

Dagny sat in the plush chair Veleif had pulled up for her by the head of the bed Yuliya was sleeping in, watching her friend and  _ Mhrif _ with worried, healer eyes. 

Yuliya hadn’t woken since she had placed her hand on her forehead the night before, sending as much healing and calming magic through the distraught and vengeful woman as Dagny could muster. The blue had long since faded from Yuliya’s skin, along with the horns, but the black veins had remained. They did not grow, but they did not shrink either and Dagny couldn’t keep the anxious worry from her face or calm her twitching hands. 

Veleif sat on the floor in front of Dagny, his arms draped over her legs, rubbing her hips in soothing, slow circular motions with his thumbs, his head lay in her lap as she shifted her fingers through his hair. He did not speak, letting his  _ Cymar _ take what comfort she could from his presence. 

If she needed something from him, verbal or physical, she would say so, until then he was content to sit, his head in her lap and his fingers on her skin. 

Yuliya hardly stirred since she was placed in bed. Only once did she begin to put up any kind of fight when they tried to tuck her in. She had become distraught and angry, seeming to wake briefly, but in actuality was more like sleep walking, to fight Steve and Dagny until Dagny had the idea to take her to Loki’s room instead of her own. 

Yuliya had almost immediately calmed and Steve was able to place her in Loki’s bed without a fight. When the Captain had the wherewithal to ask Dagny, the healer had simply shrugged, saying, “Loki was her intended  _ Cymar _ , or course his scent would put her at ease.” 

Steve didn’t fully understand what a  _ Cymar _ was, but based on the way he had seen Dangy and Veleif interact and what Yuliya had told him, he assumed it was something better than not and left it alone. Making himself comfortable in the medical room Bucky was now situated in. 

Brandr had joined Steve shortly after Dr. Cho had come, checked on Bucky, and assured the super soldier that he would be fine, he just needed some rest. 

The young blood witch didn’t say anything as he dragged a chair to sit opposite Steve and gaze at his unconscious best friend, but the look on his face and the way he occasionally reached out his hand out to touch Bucky, only to draw it back to himself, had Steve wondering if there was something more that had been happening between the two that he hadn’t realized. 

Bucky had always been honest with Steve in his attraction to both men and women, and while Steve never felt the same way Bucky had, he had accepted his best friend without any qualms. His sexual preferences didn’t change the man he was or Steve’s opinion on him. 

There was a stone of worry in Steve’s gut despite it though. It didn’t matter that Brandr was male, not really, but Brandr wasn’t the same species as the former Winter Soldier. Based on what Yuliya and he himself had said, their kind lived for milenia. Humans did not, despite Steve and Bucky’s abnormally long lives. 

Steve worried, both for his best friend and his new found friend, that something was going to go horribly wrong if he let them actually explore their feelings for eachother. It was something he would have to talk to Buck about when he woke up, Steve decided, and some time when Brandr wasn’t hovering around worried and anxious. 

\---

Bucky woke up within a few hours after Tony, Steve, Natahsa, Dagny, and Veleif had made their way back to the compound. His head felt as if it was trapped in a vice and he groaned, his one good hand coming up to shield his eyes from the glaring lights of the medical room. 

Brandr was the first to move, throwing the book he had been reading at Steve to wake him up and moving closer to the bed, placing a hand on the mattress. 

“Bucky?” Brandr’s voice was small and tentative as he spoke, unsure if the man he had gotten to know and had begun to fall for was the one waking up or if it would be a repeat of the horrifying events of the night before. 

Brandr had done his best not to think about it, although anytime he closed his eyes the memories appeared as clear as when they happened. A curse of being the scholar of the  _ Thylwythau _ . 

He had cried for hours after Yuliya had dragged his body from the stairwell and to Brandr. The sounds of Yuliya in battle had done little to distract Brandr from combing through Bucky’s mind and finding the little remnants of the trigger words. His anger and sorrow over taking him completely when Yuliya had finally finished with the last of the HYDRA agents and came to stand beside him. 

He knew what he was doing and he knew how to help, but the feeling of invading a friend’s mind, one not of the  _ Thylwythau _ , one who hadn’t given their heart, soul, and memories to his  _ Mhrif _ , grated on his conscience. 

Brandr had done his best to push aside the memories he had seen in Bucky’s mind, and for the most part he had been able to. He wasn’t connected to Bucky like he was to Yuliya, or Dagny, or Veleif. He could push aside the images of life long since lived, as long as it was Bucky’s life, but he couldn’t push aside that he had invaded his mind. 

He had combed through countless memories, good and bad, to find the sleeping program that had turned his friend into a monster from the storybooks. He might have lingered in one or two memories that had stuck out to him as particularly good, hoping to calm the one armed man he had been harbouring a crush on and give him a peaceful sleep. 

When Bucky groaned again, removing his hand from his eyes and looking at Brandr with confusion and relief, he couldn’t do it. The open and honest relief that Brandr saw play out in those baby blues, had his heart stopping for a moment before going into overdrive. 

Shooting from his chair abruptly, he stuttered an  _ “I’m so sorry. _ ” and ran from the room. Leaving a very confused Steve and a very worried Bucky in his wake. 

\---

She was curled on her right side in Loki’s bed, blankets pulled up to her chin, hair splayed across the pillows and over her face. Her breathing was even and deep and Loki looked down upon her with fear and wonder. 

The inky veins that had spread along her throat and face, were reminiscent of the battle scars he had come to have, but they did not detract from her beauty the way he felt his did. If anything they added to her, they showed off her creamy skin, almost glowing as if they were tattoos adorning her in some tribal ritual of honor. 

He knew she would flaunt them as such when she woke, despite how she may actually feel about them. It made him smile, because whether she truly felt that way or not, it was exactly what they were. 

Loki sat himself in the chair Dagny vacated when he entered. After explaining what she knew had happened and then giving him her best guesses on the original  _ how and why _ , Dagny and Veleif had left his room in a hurry. 

The tearful and joyous reunion of Veleif and his  _ ffrind enaid _ being nothing more than background noise as Loki had watched Isstormur settle himself on the other side of Yuliya on the bed. The varg laying down against her back as Loki sat in the chair turned toward her face. 

He smoothed out her hair, gingerly sweeping from her face and letting his fingers comb through the white locks as she slept. Isstormur’s head came to rest above Yuliya’s on the pillow, eyeing Loki with a weary, but grateful look in his eyes. Loki wasted no time in petting the beast’s head once he was settled, content to watch them both sleep as his mind whirled and schemed and tried to make sense of what had happened while he was gone. 

Yuliya had always been a troublemaker, Loki knew that. Loki  _ loved _ that about her. She was someone who often fought first and asked questions after, but the leftover carnage he had seen on the common floor, and apparently that was just  _ one _ floor things had gone to Helheim on, left Loki wondering about her true origins. Again. 

He had never truly seen the blood witch chief in a proper battle before, though he had heard stories from her family when he was first courting her. The occasional brawl in the marketplace or tavern, sure, or the sparring matches with Thor, Sif, and the Warriors Three, of course. But nothing that had left so much blood and destruction in her wake and Loki couldn’t help but wonder,  _ what was she and what was he missing? Because someone of her slender form should not have been able to cause so much damage to one room. _

It was a question he had asked himself many times when courting Yuliya. Her brash, but open nature continually gave him pause, at the same time drew him in. She wasn’t Asgardian in culture, she was barely Vanir in the way she spoke, and that was only because of her father. Her original distaste for him and Thor had piqued his curiosity, but not enough for him to do anything other than notice that yet  _ another _ person he did not know hated him. 

Yuliya never sought him out to bicker with him or taunt him like Thor or his friends, but she wasn’t especially warm to him whenever Sigyn dragged him along to spend time with two of them. Sigyn had insisted that the two would get along if they just got to know one another. 

Yuliya had eventually resigned herself to Sigyn’s pleading, and began approaching Loki with a smile instead of look of being put out, but the damage had already been done and Loki enjoyed the fact that now he could give the  _ Mhrif-in-training _ the cold shoulder. No matter how his friend felt about it, he relished the way the tables had turned. 

That feeling didn’t last as long after Sigyn had insisted he accompany her to the  _ Thylwythau _ camp and interact with the then budding  _ Mhenadur _ , that Loki had actually taken an interest in her. It was the first time he had ever been in a blood witches camp after dark and it had most certainly not been the last. 

_ He and Sigyn had arrived late, walking into the camp when things were in full swing. He could hear the music, loud with drums and strings, and a single voice floating over all of it. That voice had been intoxicating to him, making his blood run cold and hot in one breath. Sensations of want and need he had never experienced as he walked through the crowd of blood witches, Sigyn’s hand grasping his own and pulling him along when his own feet didn’t know where he was supposed to be going.  _

_ He had never been able to place that feeling, understand what it was or what it meant, until a few short years ago. It was his Jotun side coming out, listening to the music and feeling the dancing and body heat around him, that had begun to make him feel feral. While nothing had happened that night, something animal-like had awakened in him when he finally laid eyes on the one who’s voice had called to him.  _

_ Yuliya had stood in the middle of the camp, a giant, blazing fire behind her, voice belting out need and power and openness as she sang. Her eyes alight with joy and darkened with pain, her white hair swirling around her like snakes as magic rolled off her in waves. The lavender dress he had seen her wear on so many occasions had been discarded for a two piece ensemble, deep blue in colour. The shirt had been long sleeve, with slits from the shoulders to her wrists, only kept together by the green fabric wrapping around her hands in a half-glove sort of fashion. The shirt came down to her ribs, the end of it lined in a deep forest green that tied at her right side.  _

_ The skirt was a light, flowing fabric in the same deep royal blue as the shirt, with dark forest green trim along the top at her waist and the bottom. Two slits worked their way from her feet up to the trim at her waist, all lined in green. Every Time she walked Loki saw the cream of legs, the strong muscles of someone who was on their feet constantly, walking, running, and fighting.  _

_ There were light scars along her legs and midriff, likely from fights she had been in over the years, but one scar above all others grabbed his attention.  _

_ Along the right side of her chest, right under her collar bone and moving towards her shoulder was what looked like what had been a piercing hole. Now, scarred over and healed, it still puckered and had a slight bit of discoloration as opposed to her normal parlor. It was jagged and gnarly looking, as if it had taken far too long to heal.  _

_ She was barefoot as she walked around the fire, singing to each member of the Thyl like they were the only ones in the camp. Many of them sang along, others danced around her in a frenzy, while the rest stayed on the outer circle, playing their instruments to accompany her voice.  _

_ Loki’s eyes never strayed from her dancing figure, too enamored by her grace. He had never seen her move so fluidly or with such joy. The smile gracing her lips was brilliant and never-fading. Sweat glistened across her body, giving her an ethereal glow in the firelight.  _

_ And then she was facing him, her pale blue eyes locking onto his emerald green ones, her smile never-fading, but turning into a smirk. The music around them reached its crescendo as she stopped in front of him, her voice flowing from her softly as the instruments around them came to a close and all that was left was her.  _

_ Loki hadn’t realized he had begun moving toward Yuliya until he felt a hand on his arm, keeping him in place. He turned to face the obstacle and was met with the wide eyes of Sigyn, shaking her head minutely. Loki didn’t understand what Sigyn was trying to tell him, so he brushed her off, but Yuliya had turned away from him by the time he looked back to her.  _

_ That night started a long game of chase between him and Yuliya, leading them to this-- _

Loki thoughts and reminiscing were interrupted by the groan and slow movement on the bed in front of him. He smiled as he leaned forward, taking Yuliya’s hand that wasn’t tucked under the pillow, running slow circles into her palm with his thumb. 

Heavy eyelids fluttered open to reveal blue orbs, the colour of the sky after a storm passed through and Loki let out a breath he didn’t realize he had been holding. 

“Good morrow, dearheart.” 

\---

Bucky looked down at his missing arm, grimacing at the sight. It wasn’t the same as when he had to take it off for maintenance, this was a bit gruesome. All jagged edges and wires sticking out. 

“Shuri should be here this afternoon.” Steve said gently. 

Bucky nodded, he should have been relieved, but he wasn’t sure having Shuri here to fix him was the best thing. 

“You remember anything?” Steve asked, leaning his elbows on his thighs as he studied his best friend. 

Bucky only shook his head, that wasn’t entirely true. He remembered bits and pieces, but almost none of them seemed real. Looking at his one good hand laying in his lap, his knuckles were bruised and scraped and his chest felt heavy, small lines of pain moving through every time he breathed too deeply. 

_ Broken rib. _ He thought absently. “Is everyone- no one was-” Bucky couldn’t finish his question, but Steve understood what he was trying to say. 

“Brandr is fine, a few bruises and scrapes, but nothing lethal. Yuliya-” Steve stopped, unsure how to describe what he saw hovering over his friend. She was like death, creeping around the shadows, waiting for the opportune moment to strike and steal his soul. 

He cleared his throat before continuing. “Dagny says she’ll be fine, just needs to sleep it off.” 

Bucky chuckled, the sound dark and hollow as he finally lifted his head to meet Steve’s eyes. “You’re shit liar, punk.” 

The two men were quiet, a heavy air settling between them. Steve wasn’t sure what to say. Brandr had refused to speak to anyone before Yuliya woke up and with the way things were going, Steve wasn’t sure when she would. 

The image of Bucky laying on the floor, head resting in Brandr’s lap and Yuliya standing over them both with murder in her eyes haunted the super soldier. She had looked otherworldly, demonic even in that moment. 

Tony hadn’t been able to find anything to help put the pieces together. With the power having been shut off the entire building they had no surveillance of what happened. The HYDRA agent that Veleif had taken to the med bay was still unconscious and Dr. Cho said it was unlikely he would wake up any time soon with damage done to his head. Essentially, the team had nothing. 

The tension was broken when Dagny’s voice rang through the room. 

“Oh, happy blood you’re awake!” She smiled brightly at the men as padded over, stopping at the foot of Bucky’s bed. “Today is truly a good day then.” 

Steve stood to greet her, but his usual greeting fell short as she spoke. “Yuliya?” He asked, almost meekly. 

Dagny casually waved a hand at him. “No, no, but Loki is with her, so she’ll wake anytime now.” 

She watched the men as both their faces fell. This was hard, but she knew they would all make it through. Her smile dimmed as she looked at the men. 

Dagny knew her  _ Mhenadur _ , knew very few things could knock her down and actually keep her down. “You don’t know her the way I do. She will be fine.” 

She was looking at Bucky as she spoke, waiting for him to look back at her. He didn’t. She sighed, before continuing. 

“Her injuries were minimal to begin with, easy to heal, she is simply exhausted from the use of magic after so long.” 

Finally Bucky’s blue eyes met Dagny’s hazel ones and she smiled at his look of confusion and relief. 

“So, the curse is gone?” Steve asked, hope filling his face. It was quickly dashed when Dagny shook her head. 

“The stone is cracked though and the setting-” She was cut off by a loud gasp. All heads swung to look at the woman standing in the doorway. A look of horror and reproach on her face as she stormed over to Bucky, immediately examining his shoulder. 

“What did you do?!” She scolded, taking the seat Steve had vacated, pulling it close to the bed until her knees touched the edge. She wasted no time in pulling out the tools she brought with her, beginning her work. 

“This should not be possible.” She mumbled, examining what was left of Bucky’s arm. 

Dagny stared at the woman, a look of fury and offense rising to her face as she stepped forward. Steve was quick to intercept. 

“Dagny, this is Shuri.” He said motioning to the woman that was examining Bucky’s lack of arm. 

Dagny snarled, wanting to lunge forward and rip apart the woman, but was stopped by Steve’s hand on her sternum. 

_ Who did she think she was? To touch her friend without a care?! _

The woman, Shuri, looked up at Dagny, unperturbed by her anger. “Do you know what happened to him?” 

Dagny didn’t respond immediately, instead smoothing out the dark purple shirt she wore. “Yes. For the most part.” 

Shuri stood abruptly and Steve took a step in front of her, doing his best to mitigate the woman and their tempers. 

“My  _ Mhenadur _ was protecting herself and her kin.” Dagny stood straight as she spoke, her fists clenching at her sides and her face full of pride. “The sergeant was in danger, she did what she had to do to assure his safe return to the land of the living.” 

Whether Shuri believed Dagny or not, neither Bucky nor Steve could tell, but Shuri nodded, seeming to take Dagny’s word and sat down to continue to work on Barnes. After a few moments she looked at the other dark skinned woman. 

“I would like to meet her. This  _ Mhenadur _ .” 

“When she is awake and well.” Dagny responded, her shoulders relaxing slightly. 

\---

“You’re back.” Yuliya's voice came out as a hoarse whisper that led her to a coughing fit. Loki was quick in helping her sit up and summoning a glass of water. She downed it in three gulps, leaning heavily into Isstumur’s side. The varg wrapping around her and placing his head in her lap. 

Loki smiled at her, albeit a small, almost forced smile, vanishing the glass, as her head lolled to the side to look at him. Her eyes, though heavy lidded and cloudy from exhaustion, were alert and stared at Loki with a mixture of relief, sadness, and guilt that not even she could fully understand the root of. 

“Did you think I left you here?” Loki whispered, taking her hand in his again. 

Yuliya didn’t answer, but the sardonic smile gracing her tired face spoke more than any words she could throw at him. He had expected her to yell at him, to rip into him about how selfish and horrible he was for leaving her, for spelling her, and only leaving her with a note. 

But she said nothing, just looked at him with a sadness that ripped into his heart. 

“Yul, I-” Loki looked down at the hand he was holding; it was pale, the nails still had dried blood under them, the knuckles bruised and yellow. They looked exactly like her hands, damage and all, and yet seemed too small, too frail and weak to be the hands that had fought Thor and brought him to a draw on the training field everytime. 

He shook his head, his thumb brushing over her fingers. There were things to be said, but no words would come to life. 

“Lo.” Yuliya’s voice was quiet still, but stronger than it had been a few moments before. “I’m happy you’re home.” 

“How are you feeling?” Loki asked. He wasn’t trying to avoid the guilt of leaving her, he told himself. 

“Like I’ve been trampled by a hoard of Sleipnir.” She chuckled, wincing slightly as her chest and ribs ached from the exertion. 

It was music to Loki’s ears and when he finally looked back up her, he found her blue eyes looking at him in a way he knew he didn’t deserve. “Stop it.” She said quietly, squeezing his hand. He opened his mouth to retort, but Yuliya was quick to talk over him. 

“You would have been in my way had you been here.” 

Loki looked at the woman like she was crazy.  _ In her way?! _ He scoffed. “In your  _ way? _ ” He hissed, obviously offended by her words that she had meant to be comforting. 

She frowned at him, her brows furrowed in confusion. “Well, yes. You’re a seidr user.” She said it like it was the most obvious thing in the world and Loki mentally slapped himself when he realized. 

He let out a slow breath, tamping his temper down as rational thought began swirling around his mind again. A blood witch was dangerous enough when enraged by a threat to their  _ Thylwythau _ , but a blood witch infected with blood rot, with a damaged  _ Wedi’i Selio _ ,  **and** a threat to her  _ Thyl _ , of course he would have been in the way. 

It would have been more than that, he would have been an utter distraction to her senses. The first whiff of seidr she got and she would have zeroed in on him and Brandr would have likely ended up taken or dead along with the Sergeant. 

Despite that, Loki still found himself angry with himself for being gone. If he had been here, he doubted HYDRA would have made it as far as they did, but there was no way of truly knowing it now. 

A light knock on the door as it opened kept the estranged lovers from speaking any further. Dagny smiled as she approached, happiness and relief washing over as she saw Yuliya sitting up and aware. 

“ _ Mhrif _ , how are you feeling?” The healer asked, coming to stand by Loki. 

“I have definitely been better.” Yuliya said, turning her tired eyes to her friend. Dagny was quick in pulling a little blood into her palm, starting her examination of the now conscious blood witch. 

  
  


It didn’t take Dagny long to clear Yuliya in the department of mortal injuries. She still had some bruising from the fight, and some magical exhaustion, but she was healing up nicely and Dagny thought that she would be fine within a day, maybe two if she over-extended herself. Yuliya shrunk into Isstormur with a sheepish look when Dagny pointedly looked at her. She had a tendency to over-extended herself. 

Dagny sent for Veleif to bring food for them and was followed in by a smiling Brandr. The five of them ate around Yuliya’s bed, discussing what had happened and what Yuliya and Brandr could remember. 

“How are the others faring? Is Bucky ok?” Yuliya asked sipping on her second cup of coffee as she relaxed back into her pillows. Isstormur had long since abandoned his post as her personal growling pillow when the food had been brought in. 

“He’s ok physically, a woman named Shuri has been with him and Steve working on his arm.” Dagny answered. 

Brandr stiffened at the healer's answer, he looked down at the floor when Yuliya raised an eyebrow at him. He didn’t want to talk about it yet, he couldn’t even make eye contact with Bucky without a wave of nausea overcoming him and every one of his nerves feeling like it was being set on fire. 

“The others are confused and angry. None of them are sure what to do with what they saw.” Dagny added, gathering the dishes from Yuliya’s bed. 

“They have never seen a blood witch in action and with the damage done to-” Loki paused, pursing his lips. “Well, I can only imagine how frighteningly beautiful you were in your violence and grace.” Loki meant those words sincerely, but his tone was sarcastic and mocking. 

Yuliya smiled smugly as she lifted her mug to her mouth, an eyebrow quirking flirtatiously at the prince. Loki sneered playfully at her in return. Yuliya laughed, it was vivacious and warmed Loki and the others in the room. 

\---

The monitors beeped smoothly, letting Tony know that man that was cuffed to the hospital bed was still alive. For now anyway. He looked down at the file in his hands again. 

_ Erik Axelson _ was printed on the front. Natasha had been able to find seemingly everything on him, although Stark knew at this point not to assume he had all the information where HYDRA was concerned. 

Flipping open the file, he read the information in it again. 

_ Erik Axelson was an enhanced individual that HYDRA had gotten a hold of when he was seventeen years old. Grew up in a slum in Russia. Orphaned at age thirteen. He had limited control over water, could freeze small portions of it and move limited amounts of it.  _

_ When HYDRA began experimenting on him it carriened his powers out of control. He froze the doctors working on him and most of the guards in the building before running away. He didn’t make it more than fifteen feet from the door before he passed out in the snow.  _

_ His powers never fully manifested after that, he did find himself near immune to the cold, but his grasp on the power he had over water was next to nothing after that.  _

_ He trained hard and worked his way up HYDRA after that.  _

_ Erik Axelson had found the  _ Agor _ shortly after becoming an full fledged agent and had spent the past few years trying to ‘unlock’ its power apparently. Where he lacked in his original mutation and magic he now excelled in learned magic. Apparently a regular in the markets, he had made diligent notes on anyone he deemed powerful enough to try and recruit or to try and find a way to take out.  _

_ Yuliya, Dagny, Veleif, and Brandr were on that list. With a surprising amount of detail and yet not enough for HYDRA to know where they lived. Strange.  _

A grunt and moan pulled Stark’s attention from the file he had probably been over eight times in the last hour. He knew there were pieces missing, thankfully it seemed like someone who could actually fill in the blanks was waking up. 

“FRIDAY, get Dr. Cho in here.” Tony ordered, standing over the still bruised and damaged man. 

When Axelson’s eyes finally opened, bloodshot and really only one of them could open with the swelling still happening to his face, he was met with a smirking Tony Stark glaring down at him. 

“You’ve got a lot to answer for, frosty the hack.” 

\---

“Are you up for another visitor, my dear?” Loki crooned, sweeping the hair that had fallen into Yuliya’s face when she had laid down after lunch. The only indication that she was awake was the small twitch around her mouth as Loki trailed his fingers along her jaw. “I know you are awake,  _ fy blaidd gwyn. _ ” 

His breath fanned over her face and Yuliya could no longer hold in the smile. It spread across her face slowly until it was a wide grin, showing off the fangs that had not fully received after her dance with broken magic and her other, bestial side. 

Yuliya moved sluggishly, unwilling to be disturbed after she had just gotten comfortable, losing her consciousness slowly as Loki read to her. She was also unwilling to let the door go unanswered, what if something had happened? 

She turned a sleepy smile at the new comer. “I’m gonna say good morrow, simply because I don’t actually know what time it is. Please.” She motioned to one of the chairs that had been pulled up around the bed earlier that day. 

Loki was quick to take his original seat by her head, picking his book back up and pretending to absorb himself in it. He wouldn’t leave her alone, especially with Dagny and Veleif having taken Isstormur for a run around the compound, but he could give them a semblance of ‘privacy’. 

“You are the one who tore Sergeant Barnes arm off him, correct?” The woman asked, her black eyes boring into Yuliya, trying to assess how someone who was obviously very weak and bed bounded managed to nearly completely destroy the vibranium arm she had created. Especially with the fact that her left arm and shoulder was currently wrapped in gauze and nestled into a sling. 

“My name’s Yuliya, but my friends call me Yuli.” Yuliya extended her right hand to the still standing woman, ignoring her question and smiling brightly, well as brightly as she could. Yuliya found herself growing more annoyed at the disruption and the pain in her shoulder was starting to come back. 

The woman, Loki noted as he watched the exchange over the top of his book, had the decency to look a bit sheepish as she took Yuliya’s hand in firm handshake. “Shuri. Sorry, I’m just having a hard time understanding how someone could rip through the vibranium so easily.” 

Yuliya gave a half-hearted shrug as Shuri took a seat in the second closest chair to the bed. 

“Magic.” 

Shuri gave the bedbound, white haired woman an incredulous look. “Vibranium is the strongest metal on earth, you don’t just rip it in half, even with  _ magic _ .” 

“ _ Blood magic _ is a bit different.” Yuliya started, raising her right arm to just below eye level. Summoning what little magic she now had access to, three streams of blood slid from the crook of her elbow. They flowed upward, moving like snakes dancing around each other until they followed the length of her forearm. “It has its own strength. Its own life force, the blood. It fights for its host as its host fights for its life.” Shuri stared at the dancing blood, her mouth opening and then closing. She had questions on the tip of her tongue, but wasn’t sure how to form them. 

“If I’m being honest, which I try to be despite who I take to bed-” Loki snorted and Yuliya flashed him a wolfish grin. They were starting to mend, get back to something other than nervousness and anger. The time he spent by her bed had been more than just reassuring that she was healing physically, it was like a balm to both their frayed nerves and troubled minds. “-I’m not entirely sure what this is. This isn’t my normal blood weapon, they are normally less snakey and more bladey.” She shrugged, dispersing the magic and letting her hand drop back into her lap. 

“It was fight or die, instinct took over and did what it could with what little I had available.” 

“I’ve never seen anything like that!” Shuri exclaimed, rifling through her bag to pull out a kit with vials and a syringe. “Do you mind if I take some of your blood to examine?” 

“Sure.” Yuliya agreed, far too readily for Loki’s tastes. “Keep that needle away from me though.” 

Shuri raised a questioning eyebrow at her, but put the syringe away, handing an empty vial to Loki’s waiting hand. 

Yuliya spoke as Loki held the vial under her fingers, magic pushing out the blood to drip down and fill the vial halfway up. “I fucking hate needles, nasty and pokey. Just don’t go trying to use it on anyone.” 

Loki handed the now full and corked vial back to Shuri, who stowed away in her bag. 

Shuri didn’t stay longer than an hour with Yuliya and Loki. Asking them both questions, but mostly Yuliya. Gaining as much insight into the magic as she could, before departing. By the end of it Yuliya felt like she had made a new friend, but was above and beyond ready to sleep the rest of the day away. 

Dagny told her the magical fatigue should be wearing off in another day or two and Yuliya was determined to make it to that day as soon as possible. She was beginning to feel a bit of cabin fever. Not that she didn’t enjoy spending the time with Loki, but she wanted to see the rest of the team. None of them had come to visit, while she had been anyway, and she wanted to see them as soon as possible. 

Brandr had been given permission to take her place in explaining what had happened and hopefully, she thought, he would be able to put any worries to rest that the others had. 

Tony had called in Bruce after they had cleaned up the bodies and most of the mess and sent him to work in the lab on the mixture of blood and black goop they had found in the stairwell. He had an idea of what it was, but needed the good doctor to confirm it. 

Bruce had called Tony shortly before the billionaire had gone to visit the still sleeping Axelson. Tony’s hunch had been correct, it was the same inky sludge that Loki had coughed up a few years prior. 

Stark had told Bruce to keep it to himself until the mess with HYDRA was dealt with and then had FRIDAY seal all the findings so none of the other team could stumble upon it. Resolving to have a long and probably dysfunctional chat with the ice prince and princess after everything else was dealt with. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fy blaidd gwyn meaning my white wolf in Welsh. I'm using google translate for a lot of this though, so please let me know if I got any of it wrong!


	7. The light only shines in certain places.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry being a bit late! I got distracted with another... project that I'll hopefully have up and posted soon! Haha~

He felt horrid as he returned to the waking world. His head felt like a vice was wrapped around it, squeezing tighter at every small movement. His chest ached with broken and bruised ribs as he tried to take a deep breath, causing him to groan in pain. 

He wasn’t sure he could feel his legs, but he could feel the cold metal around his wrists and the sharpness of them when he tried to move his hand to touch his face. He could vaguely see light behind his eyelids, but didn’t dare open them yet. Even the dim light showing through made his head ache even worse. 

He had no idea where he was, he could hardly remember who he was as he laid prone, racking his brain on all the possibilities of what could have possibly landed him beaten, bruised, and handcuffed to a bed. 

He could faintly hear someone talking at the far side of whatever room he was in and then the shuffling of feet as someone approached him. He chanced opening his eyes, or rather eye, as he discovered that no amount of effort on his part was going to make the swelling of his left eye go down anytime soon. 

The light would have been blinding, if not for the figure standing over him, cast his shadow over his face. “You’ve got a lot to answer for, frosty the hack.” 

Axelson groaned again, shutting his good eye. He remembered now. Infiltrating the Avengers Compound after most of them had left on the goose chase HYDRA had set up for them. Activating the Winter Soldier, because no matter how thorough and clever they thought they were, HYDRA always had a backup plan. Getting beaten by the arm of said Winter Soldier by the witch he had investigated and found no use for. 

She was supposed to have been useless, selling small trinkets and useless potions. She wasn’t a threat in any way, or at least she shouldn’t have been. Erik still wasn’t sure what had come after him was the little witch he had met at the market five years ago. 

“Mr. Stark you have to leave.” Erik didn’t recognize the voice, but when he chanced a look, he did recognize the face of the doctor who worked with Stark and the Avengers.  _ Dr. Cho _ , he thought aimlessly. Erik wasn’t sure what was happening exactly, it seemed like the Avengers were having him taken care of in a hospital instead of letting him die by the demon's hand. He couldn’t fathom why. 

Erik Axelson was in and out of consciousness for the next five days. Saying nothing of value in between the drugged sleep he would occasionally find himself crawling out of. By the time he had healed enough to be put in one of the cells Tony had put in under the compound, Erik still wasn’t sure what their plan for him was. 

After Tony Stark’s original comment, no one but the doctor and nurses had talked to him and even at that, he wouldn’t classify anything, the good Dr. Cho or the nurses said to him as a ‘conversation’. Although he guessed now that he was more on the mend and had been moved that would quickly change. 

\---

It didn’t take long for Bucky to be up and out of the hospital bed he had woken up in and back in his own room. Dr. Cho had cleared him only a few hours after he had woken up and Shuri had already started on replacing his arm. It wouldn’t be long before he had a new and improved vibranium arm to replace the one he… lost. 

Steve had left Bucky in his room after he was discharged, telling him to get some rest, but that wasn’t coming easy to the super soldier. Small fragments of memories played before him everytime he closed his eyes, and everytime he opened his eyes, and everytime he felt himself breath and felt the pain of his healing rib. 

He could remember the feeling of fighting his own body as the change of becoming the Winter Soldier came over him until that was all he was. He could still see the fear on Yuliya’s face, see Brandr run from the room like a bat out of hell. 

_ This shouldn’t have still been possible. _

And every time he remembered a small piece of that night, a small piece of his past would come up too. A small piece of his life before becoming the Winter Soldier, hell before he was drafted into the war. Every time he closed his eyes he saw the fear and heard the scream of pain as the bullet he fired made contact with the woman and then he was suddenly eight years old again, being taught how to make his mother's pancakes. 

It made his head hurt, but not a sharp, needle pain that he had become accustomed to when remembering his time as the Winter Soldier or his time beforehand, more of a dull throbbing that made him growl in frustration. 

_ Something had happened, someone had been in his head again and it hadn’t just been HYDRA this time. _

A knock on his bedroom door brought Bucky from his thoughts. He wasn’t surprised to see Steve when he opened the door, but he found a small part of himself was disappointed. 

“How ya doing, Buck?” Steve asked when he had been let inside and the door closed behind him. 

“I’m fine, Steve.” Bucky sighed out, crossing his arms over his chest and leaning against his dresser. 

Steve gave him a look that conveyed  _ ‘I know you’re full of shit.’ _ Bucky returned it with an eye roll, but his shoulders slumped at the same time. Pinching the bridge of his nose, he spoke, not fully realizing the words flowing out of his mouth until they were out in the world. 

“Have you seen Bradnr?” 

Steve looked at him with a small smile.  _ So, _ he thought,  _ he’d been right. _ “Yeah, he’s doing good. He’s worried about you.” 

Another sigh and grunt from the other super soldier. 

“You like him, don’t you?” Steve asked after a moment of silence. That got Bucky to look up at him finally. Although the look he gave Steve wasn’t the one the Captain had been expecting, no this one was relieved, but also doubtful. For a moment in time it was longing, hope, and almost peace, but it was quickly covered up with self-hatred, doubt, and anger. 

“No.” Bucky huffed in indignation. There were only a few occasions when he absolutely hated how well Steve knew him. This was one of those occasions. 

Steve just hummed, a smirk playing at the corners of his mouth as he patted Bucky on his flesh shoulder. “Whatever you say.” He said, exiting the room, leaving Bucky alone with his thoughts. 

Bucky groaned, scrubbing his face with his one hand. 

\---

Brandr had found that his favorite spot on the compound was one no one else seemed to know about. Set far back on the property, amidst a forest of trees, sat a small pond. The trees were vibrant and towering, with branches and hiding holes that Alrek found himself constantly exploring. 

The pond was a small one and Brandr couldn’t quite tell if it had been man-made or natural, but after his second visit to the little sanctuary, he found he didn’t care. It was peaceful and he often found himself sitting at the water's edge watching the wind ripple the surface for hours, lost in thoughts and the memories of his people. 

His favorite thing about being the memory keeper and scholar for the  _ Thylwythau _ was the unedited access to memories from every blood witch for generations. The good and the bad. It was overwhelming and harrowing when he first started, but now, some four hundred years later, he found it far easier to access everything without a splitting headache or passing out for days on end. 

He often avoided the memories of battles, all of them were old, most before his time and everything that could be learned from that had been learned. Plus, Brandr wasn’t much of a fighter, he wasn’t violent, his temper wasn’t explosive like Yuliya’s or Veleif’s (when the correct few, very few, buttons were pressed), and he had no interest in charging into battle for the fun of it like his predecessor, Folke. Folke had been a smart man, but he was also impulsive and brash, exactly what the  _ Mhenadur _ at the time needed and exactly why Brandr had been offered the position to be trained, Brandr was a smart man and he was also calm and reluctant to run headlong into anything other than a library. 

He could fight when he had too, he had killed before and knew he would again if it came down to it being his life or his attackers, and surprisingly to most people he met, Brandr didn’t live with any guilt over it. It had simply always been the way of life for him and the rest of the  _ Thyl _ . 

_ Why feel guilt over reacting to a situation and making sure you came out of it alive? Plus, the dead were not left forgotten and unmourned. He always made sure of that. _

But now, Brandr played the fight with HYDRA over in his mind, sifting through his memories and perspective and separating them from Yuliya’s, and then running through hers. It took time to sift through and categorize all that happened, so Brandr found himself wandering to that quiet, peaceful little pond everyday after Yuliya woke up. 

He never encountered anyone on his way there, his time spent laying in the grass, or on his way back. So, when he was walking to his favorite spot one sunny day a week later, Alrek having flown ahead of him to investigate another hidyhole up in the trees, Brandr hadn’t exactly been looking were he was going, staring up most of the time at the light shining through the leaves, letting his mind and magic pull the last few tangle memories apart and set them up as they were supposed to be; their own pieces of history. 

He had only briefly noticed he had arrived at his usual spot by the sound of Alrek chirping at him, the bat always made sure his  _ ffrind enaid _ didn’t walk off a cliff, or rather into a pond this time. Closing his eyes, Brandr let himself fall onto his back on the grass, his magic cushioning his head. 

Dagny would kill him if he showed back up to the compound with a concussion. She had enough to deal with concerning Yuliya. 

Taking a deep breath, he held it in for a few seconds before slowly breathing out, letting the few memories he had accidently copied from the man he had started to fall for out. Letting them play around him in a semi-translucent state. 

Brandr laid on the grass, his limbs spread eagle on the ground, the memories playing out in their entirety around him, assuming he was the only one there, listening to the sounds of some of James Buchannan Barnes’ happiest memories. 

He had no idea that the subject of those memories was sitting on the opposite side of the little pond watching the memory keeper with what should have been horror at some of his most precious memories being put on display, but was only awe and wonder. 

\---

Bucky had found the small pond almost a year ago now, when walking around the grounds of the compound one night when he couldn’t sleep. It was tranquil and the perfect getaway for a disastrous mind that couldn’t relax. He would often find himself sitting on a tree stump or close to the pond's surface after hours of tossing and turning and nightmares. 

Occasionally he would wander over during the day, but he rarely thought about until his head hit the pillow. This last week had been a bit different. 

Bucky had made the trip to the small pond every night, sitting by it for a few hours before making his way back to his room to try and get a couple hours of shut eye. He only came to sit by the calming water during the day twice this week, this day being the second. He hadn’t realized anyone else knew about it. Although it didn’t surprise him that it was Brandr that had found it. 

He sat and watched the auburn-haired blood witch silently, waiting for him to notice that he wasn’t alone, instead he heard the chirp of Alrek and watched as Brandr fell onto his back, landing in the grass with a soft thump. Bucky was immediately on his feet, ready to sprint over to make sure the other man was okay, but stopped before he could take a full step. 

Magic swirled around the man laying in the grass as he inhaled and then spread from him like a gently licking wave as he exhaled. Bucky stared in awe as a few of his most precious memories began to play around him. 

_ The first time his mother taught him how to cook her pancakes, he was eight and had spilled more batter on the stove than into the pan. His mother helped him clean it up while his sisters laughed around the table.  _

_ The first time he kissed a girl, he was twelve and she had red hair and freckles. It was a dare.  _

_ The first time he kissed a boy, he was fifteen. In an alley and he felt like he was walking on air.  _

_ When he finally told Steve he wasn’t just attracted to dames, he was twenty one. They were sitting at Steve’s kitchen table, a few weeks before Steve’s mother passed.  _

All of them were a first of something. First kisses, first dances, first times in bed, first time seeing Steve Rogers as Captain America. The feeling of pride and happiness at the last one still felt like new, he didn’t have enough words to describe how thankful he was for his best friend. 

He noticed something strange as each memory played out, another following closely behind, all of them were from before HYDRA. 

None of them were the firsts of the modern world and for a brief moment he wondered why, but was distracted by the new memory that played out. It wasn’t of him or anyone he knew. 

_ A woman of blue skin and white hair walked through a frosted, snow covered plane. Her black horns, protruding from her forehead and reaching tall to the sky, curving slightly back just before the tips, making an almost S shape, gleamed in the moonlight. Her red eyes scanned the landscape, she snarled, turning abruptly to her right and continuing her path in the snow.  _

_ The wind whipped her white hair around her face and body,  _ from what Bucky could tell it reached almost passed her ass. 

_ The dress she wore was a deep, dark purple only holding together in the monstrous wind by two straps of light brown leather, one tied just under her breasts, the other tied at her hips. Her royal blue skin glowed in the light of the full moons up above her, the raised markings on her skin casting strange and ever moving shadows.  _

_ She carried a spear in her left hand, gripped tight and ready to attack at any moment. She was a hunter stalking a prey,  _ Bucky realized. 

_ She trudged forward through the snow, her shoulder tense, her ears listening, and her eyes darting around, until they landed on a brown and black lump laying in the snow. The woman approached it cautiously, but relaxed significantly when she was finally upon it.  _

_ “You just couldn’t stay away could you?”  _ Bucky heard her whisper. Although how he heard that he wasn’t sure with how loud the wind seemed to be howling. 

_ In one smooth motion the woman picked up whatever was lying unconscious in the snow, heaving it over her shoulder and began stalking off the way she came.  _

Bucky only realized it was a person when the memory seemed to ‘skipped’ in such a way that he suddenly found himself standing in a house, the woman from before stoking a fire and the man. He could now see the shape she had been carrying laying on a pile of furs. 

_ Clearly a man, he was dressed in leather and fur, his chest bare except for the black leather straps holding the fur coat around his shoulders and a jewel of red coral with dark purple lines running through it that _ looked very familiar to Bucky, but that he couldn’t quite place at the moment. _ His pants were a dark brown leather, stitched together on the outside of thighs in a crude fashion.  _

_ His blonde hair was a mess, splaying on all sides of his head and sticking to his face, he was breathing heavily, as if he had a fever. It felt like hours, but was actually just a few minutes, before he opened his eyes. They were a pale, almost glacial blue, and immediately locked onto the red ones of the woman.  _

_ She smiled at him, lovingly and kind, as she rose from her position by the fire and came to hover over him. “You have made a fool of yourself,  _ fy haul _.”  _

_ “Only for you,  _ min måne.” _ He croaked out, grinning at her.  _

_ The woman laughed. It was musical and joyful _ and Bucky almost recognized it. 

_ The man tried to sit up, but she placed a hand on his shoulder. “No.” Was all she said and his head fell back onto the furs, a groan escaping him.  _

Bucky hadn’t realized he had begun walking closer to Brandr until he heard a thump and Brandr groan, the images around him dissipating like smoke. Looking down, Bucky found himself just a few feet away from the blood witch. 

“That was uncalled for, Al.” Brandr huffed at the bat now laying on his chest, running his hand over the creatures back. Alrek squeaked at him and Brandr’s eyes shot open, wide and startled as he looked up and found Bucky looming over him. 

browneyes met blue ones and Bucky chuckled as Brandr’s widen comically, his mouth falling open in shock. 

“Afternoon, doll.” 

A blush crept along Brandr’s neck and face, turning him almost as scarlett as the henley Bucky was wearing. “I- how long- what - you- I didn’t-” Words tumbled out of the embarrassed man's mouth with no real semblance of what they were trying to form. 

Bucky chuckled as he kneeled down, looking over the man now propped up on his elbows. “I come out here to think, It helps-” 

“I didn’t mean to take them!” Bucky’s eyebrows shot up in surprise as Brandr cut him, the words that he had been struggling to pull from the either now tumbling out of his mouth like a waterfall. “You were just in so much pain I had to do something! And when I see a memory I can’tunseeityouknowtheystaywithmelikescarsstayonskinorlikelearninganewwordforthefirsttime-” Brandr was sitting up now, Alrek having fell into his lap at the quick motion, the bat didn’t seem to mind. “Andcontrarytopopularbeliefwecan’tstealmemoriesIdidn’tstealyourmemoriesyoushouldstillhavethemIcanjustnowseethemtoobutnotallofthemyou’renotpartofthe _ Thyl _ soIcan’tseeallofthemjusttheonesIpulledwhenyouwereinpain-” 

Bucky stared at the blood witch as he rambled, doing his best to parse the jumbled mess of an explanation. It didn’t seem, at least to him, that Brandr was going to stop for anything, not even a breath. 

“I’m so fucking sorry!” It was a desperate cry as tears welled up in his brown eyes. “I did exactly what HYDRA did to you for decades. You trusted me, we were friends, and I- I-” A strangled sob escaped him and he buried his face in his hands. 

Bucky stared at him, unsure what to say. He knew he should probably be mad that Brandr had poked around his head, somewhat like HYDRA had done, but for the past week, for the first time since before the war, he hadn’t had any nightmares. No murders, no torture, nothing. 

That wasn’t to say that the memories or guilt were gone, oh no those would never actually fade from his life. 

But instead of waking up in a cold sweat, terrified, and horrified every few hours, he had actually gotten a full night's sleep, hardly dreaming at all, and when he did it was of his time before the war, his time with his family and Steve. 

“Brandr.” Bucky’s voice was soft, but commanding as he spoke. “Look at me.” The super soldier waited patiently for the blood witch to look up at, his hands dropping to his lap and petting the bat still resting there, his eyes were still wide, fear and guilt playing in them. A few more tears slid down his cheeks, but the original sobs had tapered off, now it was just sniffling. 

“I don’t know what you did exactly, but it wasn’t anything like what HYDRA did.” Bucky repositioned himself so he was sitting cross legged next to Brandr. “I haven’t had any nightmares all week, actually.” 

A small, tentative smile quirked along Brandr’s lips, he nodded, wiping his face with his shirt sleeves. “Good.” 

“What’d you do?” 

“Nothing. Just brought the happiest things I could find to the surface.” Brandr shrugged, turning away from Bucky to look at the little pond. 

Bucky’s gaze was intense as he watched the other man. His wavy auburn hair falling loose around his shoulders, caressing his face in the slight breeze. It was the first time Bucky could remember ever seeing it down. 

He lifted without really thinking about, his fingers brushing strands of auburn hair away from Brandr’s face, tucking them behind his ear. Brandr didn’t pull away, but he didn’t look back at the other man either immediately. When he did turn a small smile graced his lips and sadness filled his red-rimmed eyes. 

“You deserve all the happiness the realms have to offer.” 

“I hurt you?” It was supposed to be a statement, but Bucky, despite the better sleep he had been getting, was still drawing a blank on the majority of that night. 

Brandr laughed, shaking his head, and turning his body so he was sitting facing the super soldier. “You didn’t even know I existed.” 

Bucky nodded solemnly, looking at the ground. He couldn’t take the way the blood witch was looking at him. “I can’t really remember anything.” He finally whispered after a few moments of tense silence. 

“Do you want to?” Brandr asked, his voice quiet and soft. 

When Bucky didn’t answer Brandr decided to keep talking. He could feel the hesitation in the super soldier, he wanted to remember what he’d done as the Winter Soldier, but the fact that he had spent the last eight months thinking he was free of the trigger words only to have it blow up in his face was a horrifying discovery. 

“Memories are our connection to the past and future. They shape who we are, how the people around us see us, and what we can become. The bad can often overshadow the good, so there are times when it is thought that it’s best if we can’t remember the bad.” Brandr took a deep breath, rubbing his hands on his knees. 

“That’s not how my people are. We savor the good and we celebrate the bad. We have had to do some truly awful things to stay alive, so we keep those memories close to always remind us that even when we have no hope left, we can still be more than the monsters they say we are.

Even if it means turning into those monsters for a time.” 

Brandr took a shaky breath, picking at the grass in front of him. “I have the memories of every blood witch since we began to gather together. Milenia of memories swirling around my head. I know every custom and why we do them and I can tell you which stories are fact and which are embellished. I know every person killed, by others or by us, I know every face we saved, every friend we made, every  _ Cymar _ taken. Every birth of every child into the  _ Thyl _ , those screams are not pleasant letmetellyou, every… roll around the haystack, so to speak. Seriously, I never have to look at porn.” 

Bucky barked a laugh as Brandr turned a nice shade of tomato red. 

“And maybe if I were a different person,” Brandr continued, clearing his throat and willing the blush away from his cheeks. It didn’t fade. “I could tell you that it’s awful to know everything about my people in such an intimate way, but I can’t. I love that I hold the memories for generations, I adore being able to look back and see how my people have grown and moved with actual accuracy. 

Anyway, what I’m trying to get at is, I think you should try to remember everything, all of it. Take the bad and embrace it as you run to the good and revel in it. Because,” Scooting forward, he placed a hand on Bucky’s knee, squeezing it lightly, while his other hand moved to cup his cheek. “You are nothing without your bad and you are nothing without your good. We are all monsters if you shine a light in the right places and we are all saints for the same reason.” 

  
  


The kiss was as searing and as it was unexpected. Bucky moved quickly, his hands coming up to either side of Brandr’s face to pull him in gently, compelling the shorter man to rise on his knees to meet him. 

Bucky’s lips were soft as they enveloped Brandr’s, the scruff of his growing stubble scratching gently along his face. The hand he had placed on Bucky’s knee came to rest on his right shoulder as he moved himself closer to the soldier, nearly sitting in his lap now. His other hand moved to bury itself in his chestnut locks, grasping them tightly at the base of his neck. 

Bucky groaned in response and Brandr took advantage of the opportunity to slide his tongue in, exploring Bucky’s mouth. His new and improved vibranium arm wrapped around Brandr’s middle, pulling him flush against his chest and fully into his lap, earning a startled gasp from the blood witch that turned into a low moan as their tongues continued to dance. 

When they finally broke apart for air, Brandr was breathing heavily, his face flushed, and eyed dazed. Any signs of his earlier distress now wiped away in the euphoria that had just happened. Bucky looked about the same. The blue of his irises nearly gone with how large his pupils had blown. His lips pink and slightly swollen and Brandr was pleasantly surprised to find a slight blush across the man’s cheeks. 

Brandr bite his lip, worrying it between his teeth, his arms hanging loosely around Bucky’s neck. “It’s been way too long since I’ve done that.” The laughter that rumbled through the soldier's chest sent Brandr’s nerves on fire and his soul soaring. It was beautiful deep music that he wanted to bottle up and carry with him everywhere he went. 

Laying his head in the crook of Brandr’s neck, Bucky breathed in deeply, relishing in the scent of the other man; chocolate covered berries and burning seiderwood. Brandr took to running his hands through Bucky’s hair, letting it curl around his fingers. 

The two of them stayed like that for several minutes before Bucky spoke again. “If I wanted to remember, could you help me?” His voice was quiet, but not as unsure as it had been before. 

Resting his head on top of Bucky’s Brandr hummed. “Yes.” 

\---

Yuliya’s arm was no longer in a sling and the bandages had been removed days ago. Her shoulder was healing up fairly nicely, although it would take some time to fully scar over. She could come and go from Loki’s room as she pleased now, building her strength back with walking around the compound, Loki’s hand tucked firmly in her own. 

He hadn’t left her side since he had returned and she had a sneaky feeling he wasn't going to anytime soon. Not that she was complaining, it felt nice to have him with her again. Walking together, talking about everything and nothing. It almost felt normal. 

While the gash had been healing nicely, the  _ Wedi’i Selio _ had other ideas in mind. It was like a smolder in her chest constantly, the magic in it screeching its anger out at being broken. The needles were still firmly twisted in her heart, but the cracked jewel and bent frame felt like fire to the halfbreeds skin. A small chunk of the jewel had fallen out at some point while Yuliya and Loki had slept, wrapped up in eachothers arms. 

Loki had been the first to wake when it happened, being jolted awake by a sudden burning pain on his chest. When bolted up, knocking Yuliya off his chest and nearly onto the floor, a string of curses leaving his princely mouth, he had been enraged as he looked at his naked chest, a small blistering spot no bigger than the pad of pinky. 

When Dagny had rushed in at the summons Loki had sent out, they had been confused for a few moments until the perpetrator had been caught. A tiny chunk of salmon coloured stone laid in the comforter. 

They had had to call Tony to come retrieve it, because none of them could touch it with it burning them. It was angry that they had magic, angry that it couldn’t seem to do its job. He immediately took it to the lad and Bruce joined him the next morning in trying to dissect it. 

Yuliya hadn’t been hurt, surprisingly, and when she woke the next morning, was actually feeling better than she had all week previously, ignoring the vague burning like acid reflux in her chest. 

Now the two of them were on their way to meet Stark and Banner in the lab. Tony having had FRIDAY summon them with news that he might have figured something out. 

  
  


“Mr. and Mrs. Frosty!” Tony called as the two entered the lab. Yuliya grinned at the nicknames, Loki just looked put out. 

“What do you want, Stark?” Loki asked with an annoyed huff. 

Tony swiveled around in his chair so he was facing the two, a triumphant smirk plastering his face. “Alright, so you know how we couldn’t figure out anything about that goop you threw up?” The billionaire asked, eyebrows waggling. 

Yuliya looked at Tony curisouly. “I don’t remember throwing up.” Loki grimaced. 

“Not you, Tigers Blood.” 

Loki exhaled through his nose, but otherwise didn’t answer. Shoving his rolly chair, Stark pushed himself across the room, pulling up different screens and files to show the two. Loki caught on before Yuliya did when looking at the scientific information. 

“That should not be possible.” He muttered, letting go of Yuli’s hand to stand next to Stark in front of the screens. 

Yuli looked at the two mens backs, brows furrowed in confusion until Bruce padded up to her to explain. “The same thing that’s infecting you.” He motioned to the black veins spidering up her neck. “Is the same thing that infected Loki when he attacked Earth.” 

Eyebrows shot up in surprise and Yuliya gawked at the man. “That’s not possible!” She squealed. “He’s a seidr user, he should be immune to this!” 

“Not if it’s ingested.” Loki mumbled, glaring at the screens. His shoulders stiff, hands clasped tightly behind his back. 

Yuliya could see her love's mind start to work, turning over every scenario and possibility. She wanted to ask,  _ why the fuck _ he would ingest somehing so fowl, but held her tongue. If she was being honest with herself, she wasn’t sure she wanted to know the answer. 

“Anyway!” Tony started, clapping his hands together to get everyone's attention. “I think I might have figured out a way to get that thing out of you.” He pointed to Yuli’s chest. “But I need x-rays first.” 

Yuliya shrugged, “Alright.” and followed Tony to get her chest x-rayed. She had no idea what that was, but she trusted the man. Leaving Bruce alone with Loki, who saddled up next to him to look at the screens with two different batches of blood rot on the screen. 

“Do any of us want to know?” Bruce asked quietly, keeping his eyes trained on FRIDAYS projections. 

“No.” Loki replied smoothly, though his features were still set in a deep frown. He should have known. He should have been able to tell the minute that disgusting, vile, swamp fire was shoved down his throat. 

A light weight on his shoulder brought Loki’s head whipping around. Bruce gave him a warm smile, patting his shoulder before walking back to his desk to continue to examine the piece of stone. 

\---

Erik didn’t think anyone was going to be visiting him anytime soon, so when the tell tale sound of a door at the end of the hall being unlocked rang through the empty hallway, he nearly jumped for joy. He needed something to do, anything really. 

Hell, he’d take some actual torture over of the bullshit of sitting in a small cell bored out of his mind anyday. 

He wasn’t sure what he had been expecting when two women came into view, but it hadn’t been them. 

He recognized them both. The red head with glittering green eyes and the deadly sway to her hips; Assassin turned Avenger; The Black Widow herself, Natasha Romanoff. 

The woman with the hair as black as night and the hazel eyes that glowed like a soft, loving embrace; Unmagical, useless market vendor turned Avenger apparently; Dagny Holiday. 

Erik grimaced at the sight of them. 

Natasha stood in front of Dagny by a few steps, her arms hanging casually by her sides, a file gripped in her right hand, her eyes hardened and steely as she assessed the HYDRA operative trapped in the bullet proof cage. 

Dagny simply stood back, her hands clasped behind her back. She didn’t really have anything to say to the man, but she had been curious about why he was here and she was also curious to see Natasha at work. 

Dagny had told her and the rest of the Avengers, everything she and the others knew about the man. They knew he was HYDRA, they knew he would frequent the markets, she knew she could smell magic on him, but couldn’t have told you what it was as it was too faint. They knew he had poked around their stall, asking too many personal questions and that Yuliya had sucker punched him when he had tried to force his way into the back to see their reserves. 

He kept trying for a few weeks after that and then seemingly gave up. They had tried to get as much information on him as possible, but not many people knew him well, just that he was HYDRA and an asshole most of the time. 

They had counted their blessings and moved on, but now she was thinking maybe they shouldn’t have done that. 

  
  


Natasha flipped through the file casually, her eyes grazing over the information for the tenth time that day. She had heard of Erik Axelson. Before she had joined the Avengers, there had been whispers about him, but she hadn’t been to get much on him, she hadn’t especially cared before now. 

Now, she cared deeply. This man had come in with a team, disabled FRIDAY while she and most of her team had been away on a mission, and somehow activated the Winter Soldier after it shouldn’t have been possible anymore. 

There wasn’t any information on other trigger words that the Widow could find, no matter how hard she looked, so the only conclusion she could draw was that somewhere, somehow, Shuri hadn’t been able to fully purge them from her friend's mind. And that pissed her off, truly. 

She hadn’t been mad at Shuri, no she knew the young woman had done everything in her power to help Bucky, she was angry at the fact that HYDRA still had some kind of hold on him, even after all this time. 

They had waited until they all felt relatively safe to strike, which, when she thought about it, was smart; she would have done the same thing. She still hated it. 

“Erik Axelson; orphan; enhanced individual who isn’t enhanced anymore; HYDRA goon.” Natasha spoke without emotion, her voice even and smooth. 

She saw the man flinch slightly when she mentioned  _ enhanced _ .  _ Good, she could use that. _

  
  


The next few hours didn’t give them much more than what they already knew. Axelson confirmed for Natasha, without realizing he was; because that what the Black Widow did, gathered information from a mark even when they were convinced they were a step-ahead; that the information they had gathered on the other HYDRA base had been a ploy to lure most of the team away so HYDRA could recapture the Winter Soldier.

No one, not even Axelson, had expected anything from Yuliya and hers. According to him, she was just some mouthy bitch who made shitty love-potions. He and HYDRA had crossed her and hers off their list a long time ago, citing they would be useless and were no threat. 

That worked well to the team's advantage now, even if Erik was half-way convinced she and the others were demons, he had no way to relay that information to HYDRA and so for the time being, Yuliya, Dagny, Veleif, and Brandr were safe. 

It came as a relief to all of them. They had lived their lives so far assuming they were always on someone’s radar, but apparently they weren’t. 

They weren’t able to learn much about what he knew about the  _ Agor _ at first, not until Brandr had convinced the good Captain and the billionaire to let him be inside the cell. 

“I can shift through his memories, find out what he actually knows about it, about everything if you give me some time.” Brandr had said. Pleading with the men in charge. 

Tony had been all for it, once it had been thoroughly explained what Brandr could do, but Steve was putting up a good fight. He didn’t want Brandr alone with a known and dangerous HYDRA operative, especially after what Buck had told him what had happened between the two just a few days prior. 

And Steve would be damned if he let Bucky go anywhere near Axelson after what happened originally and Bucky had been very adamant that Brandr would not be getting within fifty feet of the guy alone. 

The team sat around the conference table, each brooding and thinking about how to remedy the situation, how to get information without endangering anyone else, and just plain trying to come up with some semblance of a plan. 

“Oh!” It was Yuliya that broke the thoughtful silence. “Take Loki!” She exclaimed. 

The looks of disapproval had her quickly trying to explain her train of thought. “He’s magic. He could put Axelson under a sleeping spell and then Brandr could come in and fish through his head, get what we need, maybe fuck him a little, and if anything were to happen I feel pretty confident Lo would shut it down before it started!” 

Loki looked at the woman sitting next to him with annoyed boredom, he hated that she just volunteered him, but he had to admit it might be their best option given the circumstances. He would probably concede if the rest of the team agreed. 

Eventually Steve sighed in defeat. “Fine, but he stays alive.” He said sternly, giving Loki a pointed look. Loki in turn threw his hands up in mock surrender, an impish grin plastered along his face. 

“Why of course, Captain.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I did my best with the 'interrogation' scene, but I'm not as happy with it as I am with other parts. I still hope you enjoy!!


End file.
